THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 


THE  LAND  0V 
DEEPENING  SHADOW 

GERMANY-AT-WAR 


D.  THOMAS  CURTIN 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


V5I5 
C8 


COPYEIGHT,   1917, 
BY  GEOEQE  II.    DOEAN  COMPANY 


FEINTED  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES   OP  AMERICA 


TO 

LORD  NORTHCLIFFE 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  GETTING  IN           ....        11 

II  WHEN  SKIES  WERE  BLUE         .          .       20 

III  THE  CRIME  AGAINST  THE  CHILDREN       30 

IV  PULPITS  OF  HATE           .          .          .39 
V  PUPPET  PROFESSORS       ...       48 

VI  THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  .          .          .57 

VII  THE  IDEA  FACTORY         .          .          .79 

VIII  CORRESPONDENTS  IN  SHACKLES         .       91 

IX  ANTON  LANG  OF  OBERAMMERGATT       .     103 

X  SUBMARINE  MOTIVES      .          .          .     112 

XI  THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  VULTURE          .     118 

XII  IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET       .              .       136 

XIII  A  LAND  OF  SUBSTITUTES  .          .156 

XIV  THE  GAGGING  OF  LIEBKNECHT           .     16-1 
XV  PREVENTIVE  ARREST      .          .          .     176 

XVI  POLICE  EULE  IN  BOHEMIA       .          .     194 

XVII  SPIES  AND  SEMI-SPIES   .          .          .     202 

XVIII  THE    IRON    HAND    IN    ALSACE-LOR- 
RAINE      .....     215 

XIX  THE  WOMAN  IN  THE  SHADOW  .          .225 
7 


8  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XX  THE  WAR  SLAVES  OF  ESSEN     .  .      241 

XXI  TOMMY  IN  GERMANY       .          .  .250 

XXII  How   THE   PRUSSIAN   GUARD    CAME 

-HOME  FROM  THE  SOMME  .     265 

XXIII  How  GERMANY  DENIES           .  .     276 

XXIV  GERMANY'S  HUMAN  RESOURCES  .      285 
XXV  BERLIN'S  EAST-END        .          .  .292 

XXVI  IN  THE  DEEPENING  SHADOW    .  .     300 

XXVII  ACROSS  THE  NORTH  SEA          .  .     317 

XXVIII  THE  LITTLE  SHIPS  332 


THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 


THE  LAND  OF 
DEEPENING  SHADOW 

CHAPTER  I 

GETTING  IN 

EARLY  in  November,  1915,  I  sailed  from  New  York 
to  Rotterdam. 

I  spent  nearly  a  month  in  Holland  completing  my 
preparations,  and  at  length  one  grey  winter  morning 
I  took  the  step  that  I  dreaded.  I  had  left  Germany 
six  months  before  with  a  feeling  that  to  enter  it  again 
and  get  safely  out  was  hopeless,  foolish,  dangerous, 
impossible.  But  at  any  rate  I  was  going  to  try. 

At  Zevenaar,  while  the  Dutch  customs  officials  were 
examining  my  baggage,  I  patronised  the  youth  selling 
apple  cakes  and  coffee,  for  after  several  months' 
absence  from  Germany  my  imagination  had  been 
kindled  to  contemplate  living  uncomfortably  on  short 
rations  for  some  time  as  the  least  of  my  troubles. 
Furthermore,  the  editorial  opinion  vouchsafed  in  the 
Dutch  newspaper  which  I  had  bought  at  Arnhem  was 
that  Austria's  reply  to  the  "Ancona"  Note  made  a 
break  with  America  almost  a  certainty.  Consequently 
as  the  train  rolled  over  the  few  remaining  miles  to  the 
frontier  I  crammed  down  my  apple  cakes,  resolved  to 
face  the  unknown  on  a  full  stomach. 

ii 


1 2      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

The  wheels  ground  under  the  brakes,  I  pulled  down 
the  window  with  a  bang  and  looked  out  no  longer  upon 
the  soft  rolled  military  cap  of  Holland  but  upon  the 
business-like  spiked  helmet  of  Germany.  I  steeled  my- 
self. There  was  no  backing  out  now.  I  had  crossed 
the  German  frontier. 

The  few  passengers  filed  into  the  customs  room,  where 
a  corps  of  skilled  mechanics  prised  open  the  contents  of 
bags  and  trunks.  Each  man  was  an  expert  in  his 
profession.  A  hand  plunged  into  one  of  my  bags  and 
emerged  with  several  bars  of  chocolate,  the  wrappers  of 
which  were  shorn  off  before  the  chocolate  was  well  out 
of  the  bag.  A  bottle  of  liniment,  the  brand  that  made 
us  forget  our  sprains  and  bruises  in  college  days,  was 
brought  to  light,  and  with  commendable  dexterity  the 
innocent  label  was  removed  in  a  twinkling  with  a  spe- 
cially constructed  piece  of  steel.  The  label  had  a  pic- 
ture of  a  man  with  a  very  extensive  moustache — the 
man  who  had  made  the  liniment  famous,  or  vice  versa — 
but  the  trade  name  and  proprietor  must  go  unsung  in 
the  Fatherland,  for  the  Government  has  decreed  that 
travellers  entering  Germany  may  bring  only  three 
things  containing  printed  matter,  viz. :  railroad  tickets, 
money  and  passports. 

When  the  baggage  squad  had  finished  its  task  and 
replaced  all  unsuspected  articles,  the  bags  were  sealed 
and  sent  on  to  await  the  owner,  whose  real  troubles 
now  began. 

I  stepped  into  a  small  room  where  I  was  asked  to 
hand  over  all  printed  matter  on  my  person.  Two 
reference  books  necessary  for  my  work  were  tried  and 
found  not  guilty,  after  which  they  were  enclosed 


GETTING  IN  13 

in  a  large  envelope  and  sent  through  the  regular 
censor. 

Switched  into  a  third  room  before  I  had  a  chance 
even  to  bid  good-bye  to  the  examiners  in  the  second, 
I  found  myself  standing  before  a  small  desk  answering 
questions  about  myself  and  my  business  asked  tersely 
by  an  inquisitor  who  read  from  a  lengthy  paper  which 
had  to  be  filled  in,  and  behind  whom  stood  three  officers 
in  uniform.  These  occasionally  interpolated  questions 
and  always  glared  into  my  very  heart.  When  I 
momentarily  looked  away  from  their  riveted  eyes  it 
was  only  to  be  held  transfixed  by  the  scrutinising  orbs 
of  a  sharp,  neatly  dressed  man  who  had  been  a  passenger 
on  the  train.  He  plays  the  double  role  of  detective- 
interpreter,  and  he  plays  it  in  first-class  fashion. 

While  the  man  behind  the  desk  was  writing  my  biog- 
raphy, the  detective — or  rather  the  interpreter,  as  I 
prefer  to  think  of  him,  because  he  spoke  such  perfect 
English — cross-examined  me  in  his  own  way.  As  the 
grilling  went  on  I  did  not  know  whether  to  be  anxious 
about  the  future  or  to  glow  with  pride  over  the 
profound  interest  which  the  land  of  Goethe  and 
Schiller  was  displaying  in  my  life  and  literary 
efforts. 

Had  I  not  a  letter  from  Count  Bernstorff  ? 

I  was  not  thus  blessed. 

Did  I  not  have  a  birth  certificate?  Whom  did  I 
know  in  Germany?  Where  did  they  live?  On  what 
occasions  had  I  visited  Germany  during  my  past  life? 
On  what  fronts  had  I  already  seen  fighting?  What 
languages  did  I  speak,  and  the  degree  of  proficiency 
in  each? 


14      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Many  of  my  answers  to  these  and  similar  questions 
were  carefully  written  down  by  the  man  at  the  desk, 
while  his  companions  in  the  inquisition  glared,  always 
glared,  and  the  room  danced  with  soldiers  passing 
through  it. 

At  length  my  passport  was  folded  and  returned  to 
me,  but  my  credentials  and  reference  books  were  sealed 
in  an  envelope.  They  would  be  returned  to  me  later, 
I  was  told. 

I  was  shunted  along  into  an  adjoining  small  room 
where  nimble  fingers  dexterously  ran  through  my  cloth- 
ing to  find  out  if  I  had  overlooked  declaring  anything. 

Another  shunting  and  I  was  in  a  large  room.  I 
rubbed  elbows  with  more  soldiers  along  the  way,  but 
nobody  spoke.  Miraculously  I  came  to  a  halt  before 
a  huge  desk,  much  as  a  bar  of  glowing  iron,  after  glid- 
ing like  a  living  thing  along  the  floor  of  a  rolling  mill, 
halts  suddenly  at  the  bidding  of  a  distant  hand. 

Behind  the  desk  stood  men  in  active  service  uni- 
forms— men  who  had  undoubtedly  faced  death  for  the 
land  which  I  was  seeking  to  enter.  They  fired  further 
questions  at  me  and  took  down  the  data  on  my  pass- 
port, after  which  I  wrote  my  signature  for  the  official 
files.  Attacks  came  hard  and  fast  from  the  front  and 
both  flanks,  while  a  silent  soldier  thumbed  through  a 
formidable  card  file,  apparently  to  see  if  I  were  a  per- 
sona non  grata,  or  worse,  in  the  records. 

I  became  conscious  of  a  silent  power  to  my  left,  and 
turning  my  glance  momentarily  from  the  rapid-fire 
questioners  at  the  desk,  I  looked  into  a  pair  of  lynx 
eyes  flashing  up  and  down  my  person.  Another  detec- 
tive, with  probably  the  added  role  of  interpreter,  but 


GETTING  IN  15 

as  I  was  answering  all  questions  in  German  he  said  not 
a  word.  Yet  he  looked  volumes. 

Through  more  soldiers  to  the  platform,  and  then  a 
swift  and  comparatively  comfortable  journey  to  Emme- 
rich, accompanied  by  a  soldier  who  carried  my  sealed 
envelope,  the  contents  of  which  were  subsequently  re- 
turned to  me  after  an  examination  by  the  censor. 

At  last  I  was  alone!  or  rather  I  thought  I  was,  for 
my  innocent  stroll  about  Emmerich  was  duly  observed 
by  a  man  who  bore  the  unmistakable  air  of  his  pro- 
fession, and  who  stepped  into  my  compartment  on  the 
Cologne  train  as  I  sat  mopping  my  brow  waiting  for  it 
to  start.  He  flashed  his  badge  of  detective  authority, 
asked  to  see  my  papers,  returned  them  to  me  politely, 
and  bowed  himself  out. 

My  journey  was  through  the  heart  of  industrial  Ger- 
many, a  heart  which  throbs  feverishly  night  and  day, 
month  in  and  month  out,  to  drive  the  Teuton  power 
east,  west,  north,  and  south. 

Forests  of  lofty  chimney-stacks  in  Wesel,  Duisburg, 
Krefeld,  Essen,  Elberfeld  and  Diisseldorf  belched  smoke 
which  hazed  the  landscape  far  and  wide:  smoke  which 
made  cities,  villages,  lone  brick  farmhouses,  trees,  and 
cattle  appear  blurred  and  indistinct,  and  which  filtered 
into  one's  very  clothing  and  into  locked  travelling  bags. 

But  there  was  a  strength  and  virility  about  every- 
thing, from  the  vulcanic  pounding  and  crashing  in  mills 
and  arsenals  to  the  sturdy  uniformed  women  who  were 
pushing  heavy  trucks  along  railroad  platforms  or  pol- 
ishing railings  and  door  knobs  on  the  long  lines  of  cars 
in  the  train  yards. 

Freight  trains,  military  trains  and  passenger  trains 


1 6      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

were  speeding  over  the  network  of  rails  without  a  hitch, 
soldiers  and  officers  were  crowding  station  platforms, 
and  if  there  was  any  faltering  of  victory  hopes  among 
these  men — as  the  atmosphere  of  the  outside  world  may 
have  at  that  time  led  one  to  believe — I  utterly  failed 
to  detect  it  in  their  faces.  They  were  either  doggedly 
and  determinedly  moving  in  the  direction  of  duty,  or 
going  happily  home  for  a  brief  holiday  respite,  as  an 
unmistakable  brightness  of  expression,  even  when  their 
faces  were  drawn  from  the  strain  of  the  trenches, 
clearly  showed. 

But  it  is  the  humming,  beehive  activity  of  these 
Ehenish-Westphalian  cities  and  towns  which  crowd  one 
another  for  space  that  impresses  the  traveller  in  this 
workshop  section  of  Germany.  He  knows  that  the  sea 
of  smoke,  the  clirr  and  crash  of  countless  foundries  are 
the  impelling  force  behind  Germany's  soldier  millions, 
whether  they  are  holding  far-thrown  lines  in  Russia,  or 
smashing  through  the  Near  East,  or  desperately  coun^ 
ter-attacking  in  the  West. 

In  harmony  with  the  scene  the  winter  sun  sank  like 
a  molten  metal  ball  behind  the  smoke-stack  forest,  to 
set  blood-red  an  hour  later  beyond  the  zigzag  lines  in 
France. 

Maximilian  Harden  had  just  been  widely  reported 
as  having  said  that  Germany's  great  military  conquests 
were  in  no  way  due  to  planning  in  higher  circles,  but 
are  the  work  of  the  rank  and  file — of  the  Schultzs  and 
the  Schmidts.  I  liked  to  think  of  this  as  the  train  sped 
on  at  the  close  of  the  short  winter  afternoon,  for  my 
first  business  was  to  call  upon  a  middle-class  family 
on  behalf  of  a  German-American  in  New  York,  who 


GETTING  IN  17 

wished  me  to  take  £100  to  his  relatives  in  a  small 
Rhenish  town. 

Thus  my  first  evening  in  Germany  found  me  in  a 
dark  little  town  on  the  Rhine  groping  my  way  through 
crooked  streets  to  a  home,  the  threshold  of  which  I 
no  sooner  crossed  than  I  was  made  to  feel  that  the  arm 
of  the  police  is  long  and  that  it  stretches  out  into  the 
remotest  villages  and  hamlets. 

The  following  incident,  which  was  exactly  typical 
of  what  would  happen  in  nineteen  German  households 
out  of  twenty,  may  reveal  one  small  aspect  of  German 
character  to  British  and  American  people,  who  are  as 
a  rule  completely  unable  to  understand  German  psy- 
chology. 

Although  I  had  come  far  out  of  my  way  to  bring 
what  was  for  them  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  as 
well  as  some  portraits  of  their  long-absent  relatives  in 
the  United  States  and  interesting  family  news,  my  re- 
ception was  as  cold  as  the  snow-blown  air  outside.  I 
was  not  allowed  to  finish  explaining  my  business  when 
I  was  at  first  petulantly  and  then  violently  and  angrily 
interrupted  with: — 

"Have  you  been  to  the  police  ?" 

"No,"  I  said.  "I  did  not  think  it  was  necessary 
to  go  to  the  police,  as  I  am  merely  passing  through 
here,  and  am  not  going  to  stay." 

The  lady  of  the  house  replied  coldly,  "Go  to  the 
police,"  and  shut  the  door  in  my  face. 

I  mastered  my  temper  by  reminding  myself  that 
whereas  such  treatment  at  home  would  have  been  suf- 
ficiently insulting  to  break  off  further  relations,  it  was 
not  intended  as  such  in  Germany. 


1 8       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

It  was  a  long  walk  for  a  tired  man  to  the  Polizeiamt. 
When  I  got  there  I  was  fortunate  in  encountering  a 
lank,  easy-going  old  fellow  who  had  been  comman- 
deered for  the  job  owing  to  the  departure  of  all  the  local 
police  for  the  war.  He  was  clearly  more  interested  in 
trying  to  find  out  something  of  his  relations  in  some  re- 
mote village  in  America,  which  he  said  was  named  after 
them,  than  in  my  business. 

I  returned  to  pay  the  £100  and  deliver  the  photo- 
graphs, and  now  that  I  had  been  officially  "policed"  was 
received  with  great  cordiality  and  pressed  to  spend  the 
evening. 

Father,  mother,  grown-up  daughters  and  brother-in- 
law  all  assured  me  that  it  was  not  owing  to  my  per- 
sonal appearance  that  I  had  been  so  coldly  received,  but 
that  war  is  war  and  law  is  law  and  that  everything  must 
be  done  as  the  authorities  decree. 

Cigars  and  cigarettes  were  showered  upon  me  and 
my  glass  was  never  allowed  to  be  empty  of  Rhine  wine. 
Good  food  was  set  before  me  and  the  stock  generously 
replenished  whenever  necessary.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  I  had  come  unexpectedly  and  that  I  was  not 
being  entertained  in  a  wealthy  home,  and  this  at  a  time 
when  the  only  counter-attack  on  Germany's  success  in 
the  Balkans  was  an  increased  amount  of  stories  that 
she  was  starving. 

Evidently  the  Schultzs  and  the  Schmidts  were  not 
taking  all  the  credit  for  Germany's  position  to  them- 
selves. They  pointed  with  pride  to  a  picture  of  the 
Emperor  adorning  one  wall  and  then  smiled  with  satis- 
faction as  they  indicated  the  portrait  of  von  Hinden- 
burg  on  the  wall  opposite.  One  of  the  daughters  wore 


GETTING  IN  19 

a  huge  silver  medallion  of  the  same  renowned  general 
on  her  neck.  After  nearly  a  year  and  a  half  of  war 
these  hard-working  Germans  were  proud  of  their  leaders 
and  had  absolute  faith  in  them. 

But  this  family  had  felt  the  war.  One  son  had  just 
been  wounded,  they  knew  not  how  severely,  in  France. 
If  some  unknown  English  soldier  on  the  Yser  had  raised 
his  rifle  just  a  hairbreadth  higher  the  other  son  would 
be  sleeping  in  the  blood-soaked  soil  of  Flanders  instead 
of  doing  garrison  duty  in  Hanover  while  recovering 
from  a  bullet  which  had  passed  through  his  head  just 
under  the  eyes, 


CHAPTER  II 

WHEN  SKIES   WEEE   BLUE 

THEEE  was  one  more  passenger,  making  three,  in 
our  first-class  compartment  in  the  all-day  express 
train  from  Cologne  to  Berlin  after  it  left  Hanover.  He 
was  a  naval  officer  of  about  forty-five,  clean-cut,  alert, 
clearly  an  intelligent  man.  His  manner  was  proud,  but 
not  objectionably  so. 

The  same  might  be  said  of  the  manner  of  the  major 
who  had  sat  opposite  me  since  the  train  left  Diisseldorf. 
I  had  been  in  Germany  less  than  thirty  hours  and  was 
feeling  my  way  carefully,  so  I  made  no  attempt  to  en- 
ter into  conversation.  Just  before  lunch  the  jolting  of 
the  train  deposited  the  major's  coat  at  my  feet.  I 
picked  it  up  and  handed  it  to  him.  He  received  it  with 
thanks  and  a  trace  of  a  smile.  He  was  polite,  but  icily 
so.  I  was  an  American,  he  was  a  German  officer.  In 
his  way  of  reasoning  my  country  was  unneutrally  mak- 
ing ammunition  to  kill  himself  and  his  men.  But  for 
my  country  the  war  would  have  been  over  long  ago. 
Therefore  he  hated  me,  but  his  training  made  him  po- 
lite in  his  hate.  That  is  the  difference  between  the 
better  class  of  army  and  naval  officers  and  diplomats 
and  the  rest  of  the  Germans. 

When  he  left  the  compartment  for  the  dining-car  he 
saluted  and  bowed  stiffly.  When  we  met  in  the  narrow 
corridor  after  our  return  from  lunch,  each  stepped  aside 

20 


WHEN  SKIES  WERE  BLUE  21 

to  let  the  other  pass  in  first.  I  exchanged  with  him  heel- 
click  for  heel-click,  salute  for  salute,  waist-bow  for 
waist-bow,  and  after-you-my-dear-Alphonse  sweep  of  the 
arm  for  you-go-first-my-dear-Gaston  motion  from  him. 
The  result  was  that  we  both  started  at  once,  collided, 
backed  away  and  indulged  in  all  the  protestations  and 
gymnastics  necessary  to  beg  another's  pardon  in  mili- 
tary Germany.  At  length  we  entered,  erected  a  screen 
of  ice  between  us,  and  alternately  looked  from  one  an- 
other to  the  scenery  hour  after  hour. 

The  entrance  of  the  naval  officer  relieved  the  strain, 
for  the  two  branches  of  the  Kaiser's  armed  might  were 
soon — after  the  usual  gymnastics — engaged  in  conver- 
sation. They  were  not  men  to  discuss  their  business  be- 
fore a  stranger.  Once  I  caught  the  word  Amerikaner 
uttered  in  a  low  voice,  but  though  their  looks  told  that 
they  regarded  me  as  an  intruder  in  their  country  they 
said  nothing  on  that  point. 

At  Stendal  we  got  the  Berlin  evening  papers,  which 
had  little  of  interest  except  a  few  lines  about  the  An- 
cona  affair  between  Washington  and  Vienna. 

"Do  you  think  Austria  will  grant  the  American  de- 
mands ?"  the  man  in  grey  asked  the  man  in  blue. 

"Austria  will  do  what  Germany  thinks  best.  Per- 
sonally, I  hope  that  we  take  a  firm  stand.  I  do  not 
believe  in  letting  the  United  States  tell  us  how  to  con- 
duct the  war.  We  are  quite  capable  of  conducting  it 
and  completing  it  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  ourselves." 

The  man  in  grey  agreed  with  the  man  in  blue. 

Past  the  blazing  munition  works  at  Spandau,  across 
the  Havel,  through  the  Tiergarten,  running  slowly  now, 
to  the  Friedrichstrasse  Bahnhof. 


2  2       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

A  bewildering  swirl  of  thoughts  rushed  through  my 
head  as  I  stepped  out  on  the  platform.  More  than  three 
months  ago  I  had  left  London  for  my  long,  circuitous 
journey  to  Berlin.  I  had  planned  and  feared,  planned 
and  hoped.  The  German  spy  system  is  the  most  elab- 
orate in  the  world.  Only  through  a  miracle  could  the 
Wilhelmstrasse  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  I  had  trav- 
elled all  over  Europe  during  the  war  for  the  hated  Brit- 
ish Press.  I  could  only  hope  that  the  age  of  miracles 
had  not  passed. 

The  crowd  was  great,  porters  were  as  scarce  as  they 
used  to  be  plentiful,  I  was  waiting  for  somebody,  so  I 
stood  still  and  took  note  of  my  surroundings. 

Across  the  platform  was  a  long  train  ready  to  start 
west,  and  from  each  window  leaned  officers  and  soldiers 
bidding  good-bye  to  groups  of  friends.  The  train  was 
marked  Hannover,  Kdln,  Lille.  As  though  I  had  never 
known  it  before,  I  found  myself  saying,  "Lille  is  in 
France,  and  those  men  ride  there  straight  from  here." 

The  train  on  which  I  had  arrived  had  pulled  out  and 
another  had  taken  its  place.  This  was  marked  Posen, 
Thorn,  Insterburg,  Stalluponen,  Alexandrovo,  Vilna. 
As  I  stood  on  that  platform  I  felt  Germany's  power  in 
a  peculiar  but  convincing  way.  I  had  been  in  Germany, 
in  East  Prussia,  when  the  Russians  were  not  only  in 
possession  of  the  last  four  places  named,  but  about  to 
threaten  the  first  two. 

Now  the  simple  printed  list  of  stations  on  the  heavy 
train  about  to  start  from  the  capital  of  Germany  to 
Vilna,  deep  in  Russia,  was  an  awe-inspiring  tribute  to 
the  great  military  machine  of  the  Fatherland.  For  a 


WHEN  SKIES  WERE  BLUE  23 

moment  I   believed   in   von   Bethmann-Holweg's   talk 
about  the  "map  of  Europe." 

I  was  eager  to  see  how  much  Berlin  had  changed,  for 
I  knew  it  at  various  stages  of  the  war,  but  I  cannot 
honestly  saj  that  the  changes  which  I  detected  later, 
and  which  I  shall  deal  with  in  subsequent  chapters  of 
this  book — changes  which  are  absorbingly  interesting 
to  study  on  the  spot  and  vitally  important  in  the  prog- 
ress and  outcome  of  the  war — were  very  apparent  then. 

In  the  dying  days  of  1915  I  found  the  people  of  Ber- 
lin almost  as  supremely  confident  of  victory,  especially 
now  since  Bulgaria's  entrance  had  made  such  sweeping 
changes  in  the  Balkans,  as  they  were  on  that  day  of 
cloudless  blue,  the  first  of  August,  1914,  when  the  dense 
mass  swayed  before  the  Royal  Palace,  to  see  William 
II.  come  out  upon  the  balcony  to  bid  his  people  rise  to 
arms.  Eyes  sparkled,  cheeks  flushed,  the  buzz  changed 
to  cheering,  the  cheering  swelled  to  a  roar.  The  army 
which  had  been  brought  to  the  highest  perfection,  the 
army  which  would  sweep  Europe — at  last  the  German 
people  could  see  what  it  would  do,  would  show  the  world 
what  it  would  do.  The  anticipation  intoxicated  them. 

An  American  friend  told  me  of  how  he  struggled  to- 
ward the  Schloss,  but  in  the  jam  of  humanity  got  only 
as  far  as  the  monument  of  Frederick  the  Great.  There 
a  youth  threw  his  hat  in  the  air  and  cried :  "Hoch  der 
Krieg,  Hoch  der  Krieg!"  (Hurrah  for  the  war). 

That  was  the  spirit  that  raged  like  a  prairie  fire. 

An  old  man  next  to  him  looked  him  full  in  the  eyes. 
"Der  Krieg  ist  eine  ernste  Sache,  Junge!"  (War  is  a 
serious  matter,  young  man),  he  said  and  turned  away. 


24      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

He  was  in  the  crowd,  but  not  of  it.  His  note  was  dis- 
cordant. They  snarled  at  him  and  pushed  him  roughly. 
They  gloried  in  the  thought  of  war.  They  were  certain 
that  they  were  invincible.  All  that  they  had  been 
taught,  all  the  influences  on  their  lives  convinced  them 
that  nothing  could  stand  before  the  furor  teutonicus 
once  it  was  turned  loose. 

Delirious  days  when  military  bands  blared  regiment 
after  regiment  through  lines  of  cheering  thousands; 
whole  companies  deluged  with  flowers,  long  military 
trains  festooned  with  blossoms  and  greenery  rolling 
with  clock-like  regularity  from  the  stations  amid  thun- 
derous cheers.  Sad  partings  were  almost  unknown,  for, 
of  course,  no  earthly  power  could  withstand  the  on- 
slaughts of  the  Kaiser's  troops.  God  was  with  them — 
even  their  belts  and  helmets  showed  that.  So,  "Good- 
bye for  six  weeks !" 

The  2nd  of  September  is  Sedan  Day,  and  in  1914  it 
was  celebrated  as  never  before.  A  great  parade  was 
scheduled,  a  parade  which  would  show  German  prowess. 
Though  I  arrived  in  "Unter  den  Linden"  two  hours 
before  the  procession  was  due,  I  could  not  get  anywhere 
near  the  broad  central  avenue  down  which  it  would 
pass.  I  chartered  a  taxi  which  had  foundered  in  the 
throng,  and  perched  on  top.  The  Government,  always 
attentive  to  the  patriotic  education  of  the  children,  had 
given  special  orders  for  such  occasions.  The  little  ones 
were  brought  to  the  front  by  the  police,  and  boys  were 
even  permitted  to  climb  the  sacred  Linden  trees  that 
they  might  better  see  what  the  Fatherland  had  done. 

The  triumphal  column  entered  through  the  Kaiser 
'Arch  of  the  Brandenburger  Tor,  and  bedlam  broke  loose 


WHEN  SKIES  WERE  BLUE  25 

during  the  passing  of  the  captured  cannon  of  Russia, 
France,  and  Belgium — these  last  cast  by  German  work- 
men at  Essen  and  fired  by  Belgian  artillerists  against 
German  soldiers  at  Liege. 

The  gates  of  Paris !  Then  the  clear-cut  German  of- 
ficial reports  became  vague  for  a  few  days  about  the 
West,  but  had  much  of  Hindenburg  and  victory  in  the 
East.  Democracies  wash  their  dirty  linen  in  public, 
while  absolute  governments  tuck  theirs  out  of  sight, 
where  it  usually  disappears,  but  sometimes  unexpectedly 
develops  spontaneous  combustion. 

Nobody — outside  of  the  little  circle — questioned  the 
delay  in  entering  Paris.  Everything  was  going  accord- 
ing to  plan,  was  the  saying.  I  suppose  sheep  entertain 
a  somewhat  similar  attitude  when  their  leader  conducts 
them  over  a  precipice.  Antwerp  must  be  taken  first — 
that  was  the  key  to  Paris  and  London.  Such  was  the 
gossip  when  the  scene  was  once  more  set  in  Belgium, 
and  the  great  Skoda  mortars  pulverised  forts  which  on* 
paper  were  impregnable.  Many  a  time  during  the  first 
days  of  October  I  left  my  glass  of  beer  or  cup  of  tea 
half  finished  and  rushed  from  cafe  and  restaurant  with 
the  crowd  to  see  if  the  newspaper  criers  of  headlines 
were  announcing  the  fall  of  the  fortress  on  the  Scheldt. 
How  those  people  discussed  the  terms  of  the  coming 
early  peace,  terms  which  were  not  by  any  means  easy! 
Berlin  certainly  had  its  thumbs  turned  down  on  the 
rest  of  Europe. 

With  two  other  Americans  I  sat  with  a  group  of  pros- 
perous Berliners  in  their  luxurious  club.  Waiters 
moved  noiselessly  over  costly  rugs  and  glasses  clinked, 
while  these  men  seriously  discussed  the  probable  terms 


26      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Germany  would  soon  impose  on  a  conquered  continent. 
Belgium  would,  of  course,  be  incorporated  into  the  Ger- 
man Empire,  and  Antwerp  would  be  the  chief  outlet  for 
Germany's  commerce — and  how  that  commerce  would 
soon  boom  at  the  expense  of  Great  Britain !  France 
would  now  have  an  opportunity  to  develop  her  socialis- 
tic experiments,  as  she  would  be  permitted  to  maintain 
only  a  very  small  army.  The  mistake  of  1870  must  not 
be  repeated.  This  time  there  would  be  no  paltry  levy 
of  five  billion  francs.  A  great  German  Empire  would 
rise  on  the  ruins  of  the  British.  Commercial  gain  was 
the  theme.  I  did  not  gather  from  the  conversation  that 
anybody  but  Germany  would  be  a  party  to  the  peace. 

A  man  in  close  touch  with  things  military  entered 
at  midnight.  His  eyes  danced  as  he  gave  us  new  in- 
formation about  Antwerp.  Clearly  the  city  was 
doomed. 

I  did  not  sleep  that  night.  I  packed.  Next  evening 
I  was  in  Holland.  I  saw  a  big  story,  hired  a  car,  picked 
up  a  Times  courier,  and,  after  "fixing"  things  with  the 
Dutch  guards,  dashed  for  Antwerp.  The  long  story  of  a 
retreat  with  the  rearguard  of  the  Belgian  Army  has  no 
place  here.  But  there  were  scenes  which  contrasted 
with  the  boasting,  confident,  joyous  capital  I  had  left. 
Belgian  horses  drawing  dejected  families,  weeping  on 
their  household  goods,  other  families  with  everything 
they  had  saved  bundled  in  a  tablecloth  or  a  hand- 
kerchief. Some  had  their  belongings  tied  on  a  bicycle, 
others  trundled  wheel-barrows.  Valuable  draught  dogs, 
harnessed,  but  drawing  no  cart,  were  led  by  their  mas- 
ters, while  other  dogs  that  nobody  thought  of  just  fol- 
lowed along.  And  tear-drenched  faces  everywhere. 


WHEN  SKIES  WERE  BLUE  27 

Back  in  Bergen-op-Zoom  and  Putten  I  had  seen  chalk 
writing  on  brick  walls  saying  that  members  of  certain 
families  had  gone  that  way  and  would  wait  in  certain 
designated  places  for  other  members  who  chanced  to 
pass.  On  the  road,  now  dark,  and  fringed  with  pines, 
I  saw  a  faint  light  flicker.  A  group  passed,  four  very 
old  women  tottering  after  a  very  old  man,  he  holding  a 
candle  before  him  to  light  the  way. 

As  I  jotted  down  these  things  and  handed  them  to 
my  courier  I  thought  of  the  happy  faces  back  in  Ber- 
lin, of  jubilant  crowds  dashing  from  restaurants  and 
cafes  as  each  newspaper  edition  was  shouted  out,  and 
I  knew  that  the  men  in  the  luxurious  club  were  figuring 
out  to  what  extent  they  could  mulct  Belgium. 

I  pressed  on  in  the  dark  and  joined  the  Belgian  army 
and  the  British  ITaval  Brigade  falling  back  before  the 
Germans.  I  came  upon  an  American,  now  captain  of  a 
Belgian  company.  "It's  a  damn  shame,  and  I  hate  to 
admit  it,"  he  said,  "but  the  Allies  are  done  for."  That 
is  the  way  it  looked  to  us  in  the  black  hours  of  the  re- 
treat. 

Soldiers  were  walking  in  their  sleep.  Some  sank,  too 
exhausted  to  continue.  An  English  sailor,  a  tireless 
young  giant,  trudged  on  mile  after  mile  with  a  Belgian 
soldier  on  his  back.  Both  the  Belgian's  feet  had  been 
shot  off  and  tightly  bound  handkerchiefs  failed  to  check 
the  crimson  trail. 

London  and  Paris  were  gloomy,  but  Berlin  was  bask- 
ing in  the  bright  morning  sunshine  of  the  war. 

Although  the  fronts  were  locked  during  the  winter, 
the  German  authorities  had  good  reason  to  feel  opti- 


28       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

mistic  about  the  coming  spring  campaign.  They  knew 
that  they  had  increased  their  munition  output  enor- 
mously, and  their  spies  told  them  that  Russia  had  prac- 
tically run  out  of  ammunition,  while  England  had  ntot 
yet  awakened  to  the  realisation  that  this  is  a  war  of 
shells. 

The  public  saw  the  result  in  the  spring.  The  armies 
of  the  Tsar  fell  back  all  along  the  line,  while  in  Ger- 
many the  flags  were  waving  and  the  bells  of  victory 
were  pealing. 

All  through  this  there  was  unity  in  Germany,  a  unity 
that  the  Germans  felt  and  gloried  in.  "No  other  nation 
acts  as  one  man  in  this  wonderful  time  as  do  we  Ger- 
mans," they  told  the  stranger  again  and  again.  Unity 
and  Germany  became  synonymous  in  my  mind. 

Love  of  country  and  bitterness  against  the  enemy  are 
intensified  in  a  nation  going  to  war.  It  is  something 
more  than  this,  however,  which  has  imbued  and  sus- 
tained the  flaming  spirit  of  Germany  during  this  war. 
In  July,  1914,  the  Government  deliberately  set  out  to 
overcome  two  great  forces.  The  first  was  the  growing 
section  of  her  anti-militaristic  citizens,  and  the  second 
was  the  combination  of  Great  Powers  which  she  made 
up  her  mind  she  must  fight  sooner  or  later  if  she  would 
gain  that  place  in  the  sun  which  had  dazzled  her  so 
long. 

Her  success  against  the  opposition  within  her  was 
phenomenal.  Germany  was  defending  herself  against 
treacherous  attack — that  was  the  watchword.  The  So- 
cial Democrats  climbed  upon  the  band-waggon  along 
with  the  rest  for  the  joy-ride  to  victory,  and  they  re- 


WHEN  SKIES  WERE  BLUE  29 

mained  on  the  band-waggon  for  more  than  a  year — 
then  some  of  them  dropped  off. 

The  story  of  how  all  Germans  were  made  to  think 
as  one  man  is  a  story  of  one  of  the  greatest  phenomena 
of  history.  It  is  my  purpose  in  the  next  few  chapters 
to  show  how  the  German  Government  creates  unity. 
Then,  in  later  chapters,  I  will  describe  the  forces  tend- 
ing to  disintegrate  that  wonderful  unity. 

Germany  entered  the  war  with  the  Government  in 
control  of  all  the  forces  affecting  public  opinion.  The 
only  way  in  which  newspaper  editors,  reporters,  lec- 
turers, professors,  teachers,  theatre  managers,  and  pul- 
pit preachers  could  hope  to  accomplish  anything  in  the 
world  was  to  do  something  to  please  the  Government. 
To  displease  the  Government  meant  to  be  silenced  or  to 
experience  something  worse. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   CEIME    AGAINST   THE    CHILDREN 

THE  boys  and  girls  of  Germany  play  an  important 
part   in  die  grosse   Zeit    (this   great   wartime). 
Every  atom  of  energy  that  can  be  dragged  out  of  the 
children  has  been  put  to  practical  purpose. 

Their  little  souls,  cursed  by  "incubated  hate,"  have 
been  so  worked  upon  by  the  State  schoolmasters  that 
they  have  redoubled  their  energies  in  the  tasks  imposed 
upon  them  of  collecting  gold,  copper,  nickel,  brass, 
paper,  acorns,  blackberries,  blueberries,  rubber,  woollen 
and  war  loan  money. 

All  this  summer  on  release  from  school,  which  com- 
mences at  seven  and  closes  at  three  in  most  parts  of 
Germany,  the  hours  varying  in  some  districts,  the  chil- 
dren, in  organised  squads,  have  been  put  to  these  im- 
portant purposes  of  State.  They  had  much  to  do  with 
the  getting  in  of  the  harvest. 

The  schoolmaster  has  played  his  part  in  the  training 
of  the  child  to  militarism,  State  worship,  and  enemy 
hatred  as  effectively  as  the  professor  and  the  clergyman. 

Here  are  two  German  children's  school  songs,  that 
are  being  sung  daily.  Both  of  them  are  creations  of 
the  war:  both  written  by  schoolmasters.  The  particu- 
larly offensive  song  about  King  Edward  and  England 
is  principally  sung  by  girls — the  future  mothers  of  Ger- 
many : — 

30 


CRIME  AGAINST  THE  CHILDREN     31 

O  England,  O  England, 

Wie  gross  sind  Deine  Liigen ! 

1st  Dem  Verbrechen  noch  so  gross, 

Du  schwindelst  Dich  vom  Galgen  los. 

O  Eduard,  O  Eduard,  du  Muster  aller  Eiirsten, 

Nichts  hattest  Du  von  einem  Rex, 

Du  eitler  Schlips — und  Westenfex. 
[Oh,  England,  oh,  England,  how  great  are  thy  lies! 
However  great  thy  crimes,  thou  cheatest  the  gallows. 
Oh,  Edward,  oh,  Edward,  thou  model  Prince!     Thou 
hadst  nothing  kindly  in  thee,  thou  vain  fop!] 

Da  driiben,  da  druben  liegt  der  Eeind, 

In  feigen  Schiitzengraben, 

Wir  greif  en  ihn  an,  und  ein  Hund,  wer  meint, 

Heut'  wiirde  Pardon  gegeben. 

Schlagt  alles  tot,  was  um  Gnade  fleht, 

Schiesst  alles  nieder  wie  Hunde, 

Mehr  Eeinde,  mehr  Feinde !  sei  euer  Gebet 

In  dieser  Vergeltungsstunde. 

[Over  there  in  the  cowardly  trenches  lies  the  enemy. 
We  attack  him,  and  only  a  dog  will  say  that  pardon 
should  be  given  to-day.  Strike  dead  everything  which 
prays  for  mercy.  Shoot  everything  down  like  dogs. 
''More  enemies,  more  enemies,"  be  your  prayer  in  this 
hour  of  retribution.] 

The  elementary  schools,  or  Volksschulen,  are  free, 
and  attendance  is  compulsory  from  six  to  fourteen. 
There  are  some  61,000  free  public  elementary  schools 
with  over  10,000,000  pupils,  and  over  600  private  ele- 
mentary schools,  with  42,000  pupils  who  pay  fees. 

Germany  is  a  land  of  civil  service,  to  enter  which 
a  certificate  from  a  secondary  school  is  necessary.  Some 
authorities  maintain  that  the  only  way  to  prevent  being 
flooded  with  candidates  is  to  make  the  examinations 
crushingly  severe.  Children  are  early  made  to  realise 


32       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

that  all  hope  of  succeeding  in  life  rests  upon  the  pass- 
ing of  these  examinations.  Thus  the  despair  which 
often  leads  to  suicide  on  the  one  hand  and  knowledge 
without  keenness  on  the  other. 

Hardly  any  class  has  suffered  more  heavily  in  the 
war  than  the  masters  of  the  State  schools,  which  are 
equivalent  to  English  Council  schools  and  American 
public  schools.  Th'e  thinning  'of  their  ranks  is  an 
eloquent  proof  of  the  heaviness  of  the  German  death 
toll.  Their  places  have  been  taken  by  elderly  men,  but 
principally  by  women.  It  is  a  kind  of  Nemesis  that 
they  should  have  fallen  in  the  very  cause  they  have 
been  propagating  for  at  least  a  generation. 

Those  who  knew  only  the  old  and  pleasant  Germany 
do  not  realise  the  speeding  up  of  the  hate  machine  that 
has  taken  place  in  the  last  decade.  The  protests  against 
this  State  creation  of  hate  grow  less  and  less  as  the  war 
proceeds.  To-day  only  comparatively  few  members  of 
the  Social-Democrat  Party  raise  objection  to  this  horri- 
ble contamination  of  the  minds  of  the  coming  genera- 
tion of  German  men  and  women.  Not  much  reflection 
is  needed  to  see  on  what  fruitful  soil  the  great  National 
Liberal  Party,  with  its  backing  of  capitalists,  greedy 
merchants,  chemists,  bankers,  ship  and  mine  owners, 
is  planting  its  seeds  for  the  future.  There  is  no  cure 
for  this  evil  state  of  affairs,  but  the  practical  proof,  in- 
flicted by  big  cannon,  that  the  world  will  not  tolerate 
a  nation  of  which  the  very  children  are  trained  to  hate 
the  rest  of  the  world,  and  taught  that  German  Kultur 
must  be  spread  by  bloodshed  and  terror. 

With  the  change  in  Germany  has  come  a  change  in 
the  family  life.     The  good  influence  of  some  churches 


CRIME  AGAINST  THE  CHILDREN     33 

has  gone  completely.  They  are  part  of  the  great  war 
machine.  The  position  of  the  mother  is  not  what  it  was. 
The  old  German  Hausfrau  of  the  three  K's,  which  I 
will  roughly  translate  by  "Kids,  Kitchen,  and  Kirk," 
has  become  even  more  a  servant  of  the  master  of  the 
house  than  she  was.  The  State  has  taken  control  of 
the  souls  of  her  children,  and  she  has  not  even  that 
authority  that  she  had  twenty  years  ago.  The  father  has 
become  even  more  important  than  of  yore.  The  natural 
tendency  of  a  nation  of  which  almost  every  man  is  a 
soldier,  is  to  elevate  the  man  at  the  expense  of  the 
woman,  and  the  German  woman  has  taken  to  her  new 
position  very  readily.  She  plays  her  wonderful  part  in 
the  production  of  munitions,  not  as  in  Britain  in  a 
spirit  of  equality,  but  with  a  sort  of  admitted  inferior- 
ity difficult  to  describe  exactly. 

At  four  years  of  age  the  German  male  child  begins 
to  be  a  soldier.  At  six  he  is  accustomed  to  walk  in 
military  formation.  This  system  has  a  few  advantages, 
but  many  disadvantages.  A  great  concourse  of  infants 
can,  for  example,  be  marshalled  through  the  streets  of  a 
city  without  any  trouble  at  all.  But  that  useful  disci- 
pline is  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  killing  of  in- 
dividuality. German  children,  especially  during  the 
war,  try  to  grow  up  to  be  little  men  and  women  as 
quickly  as  possible.  They  have  shared  the  long  work- 
ing hours  of  the  grown-ups,  and  late  in  the  hot  summer 
nights  I  have  seen  little  Bavarian  boys  and  girls  who 
have  been  at  school  from  seven  and  worked  in  the  fields 
from  three  o'clock  till  dark,  drinking  their  beer  in  the 
beer  garden  with  a  relish  that  showed  they  needed  some 
stimulant.  The  beer  is  not  Bass's  ale,  but  it  contains 


34       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

from  two  to  five  per  cent,  of  alcohol.  Unhealthy-look- 
ing little  men  are  these  German  boys  of  from  twelve  to 
fifteen  during  the  war.  The  overwork,  and  the  lowering 
of  the  diet,  has  given  them  pasty  faces  and  dark  rings 
round  their  eyes.  All  games  and  amusements  have  been 
abandoned,  and  the  only  relaxation  is  corps  marching 
through  the  streets  at  night,  singing  their  hate  songs 
and  "Deutschland,  Deutschland  iiber  Alles." 

The  girls,  in  like  fashion,  often  spend  their  school 
interval  in  marching  in  columns  of  four,  singing  the 
same  horrible  chants. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  scarcity  of  woollen  materials, 
the  millions  of  little  German  schoolgirls  produced  their 
full  output  of  comforts  for  the  troops. 

The  practical  result,  from  a  military  point  of  view, 
of  training  children  to  venerate  the  All-Highest  War 
Lord  and  his  family,  together  with  his  ancestors,  was 
shown  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  when  there  came  a 
great  rush  of  volunteers  (Freiwillige*) ,  many  of  them 
beneath  the  military  age,  many  of  them  beyond  it.  In 
most  of  the  calculations  of  German  man-power,  some 
ally  and  neutral  military  writers  seem  to  have  forgotten 
these  volunteers,  estimated  at  two  millions. 

A  significant  change  in  Germany  is  the  cessation  of 
the  volunteer  movement.  Parents  who  gladly  sent 
forth  their  boys  as  volunteers,  are  now  endeavouring 
by  every  means  in  their  power  to  postpone  the  evil  day 
in  the  firm  belief  that  peace  will  come  before  the  age 
of  military  service  has  been  reached.  It  is  a  change  at 
least  as  significant  as  that  which  lies  between  the  Ger- 
man's "We  have  won — the  more  enemies  the  better"  of 
two  years  back,  and  the  'We  must  hold  out"  of  to-day. 


CRIME  AGAINST  THE  CHILDREN     35 

Of  the  school  structures  in  modern  Germany  it  would 
be  idle  to  pretend  that  they  are  not  excellent  in  every 
respect — perfect  ventilation,  sanitation,  plenty  of  space, 
large  numbers  of  class-rooms,  and  halls  for  the  choral 
singing,  which  is  part  of  the  German  system  of  educa- 
tion, and  by  which  the  "hate"  songs  have  been  so  readily 
spread.  The  same  halls  are  used  for  evening  lectures 
for  adults  and  night  improvement  schools. 

It  is  significant  that  all  the  schools  built  between 
1911  and  1914  were  so  arranged,  not  only  in  Germany, 
but  throughout  Austria,  that  they  could  be  turned  into 
hospitals  with  hardly  any  alteration.  For  this  pur- 
pose, temporary  partitions  divided  portions  of  the 
buildings,  and  an  unusually  large  supply  of  water  was 
laid  on.  Special  entrances  for  ambulances  were  already 
in  existence,  baths  had  already  been  fitted  in  the 
wounded  reception  rooms,  and  in  many  cases  sterilising 
sheds  were  already  installed.  The  walls  were  made  of  a 
material  that  could  be  quickly  whitewashed  for  the  ex- 
termination of  germs.  If  this  obvious  preparation  for 
war  is  named  to  the  average  German,  his  reply  is,  "The 
growing  jealousy  of  German  culture  and  commerce 
throughout  the  world  rendered  necessary  protective 
measures." 

A  total  lack  of  sense  of  humour  and  sense  of  pro- 
portion among  the  Germans  can  be  gathered  from  the 
fact  that  Mr.  Haselden's  famous  cartoons  of  Big  and 
Little  Willie,  which  have  a  vogue  among  Americans 
and  other  neutrals  in  Germany,  and  are  by  no  means 
unkind,  are  regarded  by  Germans  as  a  sort  of  sacrilege. 
These  same  people  do  not  hesitate  to  circulate  the  most 
horrible  and  indecent  pictures  of  President  Wilson, 


36      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

King  George,  President  Poincare,  and  especially  of 
Viscount  Grey  of  Falloden.  The  Tsar  is  usually  de- 
picted covered  with  vermin.  The  King  of  Italy  as  an 
evil-looking  dwarf  with  a  dagger  in  his  hand.  Only 
those  who  have  seen  the  virulence  of  the  caricatures, 
circulated  by  picture  postcard,  can  have  any  idea  of  the 
horrible  material  on  which  the  German  child  is  fed. 
The  only  protest  I  ever  heard  came  from  the  Artists' 
Society  of  Munich,  who  objected  to  these  loathsome  edu- 
cational efforts  as  being  injurious  to  the  reputation  of 
artistic  Germany  and  calculated  to  produce  permanent 
damage  to  the  juvenile  mind. 

The  atmosphere  of  the  German  home  is  so  different 
from  that  in  which  I  have  been  brought  up  in  the 
United  States,  and  have  seen  in  England,  that  the  Ger- 
mans are  not  at  all  shocked  by  topics  of  conversation 
never  referred  to  in  other  countries.  Subjects  are  dis- 
cussed before  German  girls  of  eleven  and  twelve,  and 
German  boys  of  the  same  age,  that  make  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  anxious  to  get  out  of  the  room.  I  do  not  know 
whether  it  is  this  or  the  over-education  that  leads  to 
the  notorious  child  suicides  of  Germany,  upon  which 
so  many  learned  treatises  have  been  written. 

Just  before  the  war  it  looked  as  though  the  German 
young  man  and  woman  were  going  to  improve.  Lawn 
tennis  was  spreading,  despite  old-fashioned  prejudice. 
Football  was  coming  in.  Rowing  was  making  some 
progress,  as  you  may  have  learned  at  Henley.  It  was 
not  the  spontaneous  sport  of  Anglo-Saxon  countries,  but 
a  more  concentrated  effort  to  imitate  and  to  excel. 

Running  races  had  become  lately  a  German  school 
amusement,  but  the  results,  as  a  rule,  were  that  if 


CRIME  AGAINST  THE  CHILDREN    37 

there  were  five  competitors,  the  four  losers  entered  a 
protest  against  the  winner.  In  any  case,  each  of  the  four 
produced  excellent  excuses  why  he  had  lost,  other  than 
the  fact  that  he  had  been  properly  beaten. 

A  learned  American  "exchange  professor,"  who  had 
returned  from  a  German  university,  whom  I  met  in 
Boston  last  year  on  my  way  from  England  to  Germany, 
truly  summed  up  the  situation  of  athletics  in  German 
schools  by  saying,  "German  boys  are  bad-tempered  losers 
and  boastful  winners." 

Upon  what  kinds  of  history  is  the  German  child  being 
brought  up  ?  The  basis  of  it  is  the  history  of  the  House 
of  Hohenzollern,  with  volumes  devoted  to  the  Danish 
and  Austrian  campaigns  and  minute  descriptions  of 
every  phase  of  all  the  battles  with  France  in  1870, 
written  in  a  curious  hysterical  fashion. 

The  admixture  of  Biblical  references  and  German 
boasting  are  typical  of  the  lessons  taught  at  German 
Sunday  Schools,  which  play  a  great  role  in  war  prop- 
aganda. The  schoolmaster  having  done  his  work  for 
six  days  of  the  week,  the  pastor  gives  an  extra  virulent 
dose  on  the  Sabbath.  Sedan  Day,  which  before  the  war 
was  the  culmination  of  hate  lessons,  often  formed  the 
occasion  of  Sunday  School  picnics,  at  which  the  chil- 
dren sang  new  anti-French  songs. 

There  are  some  traits  in  German  children  most 
likeable.  There  are,  for  example,  the  respect  for,  and 
courtesy  and  kindness  towards,  anybody  older  than 
themselves.  There  are  admiration  for  learning  and 
ambition  to  excel  in  any  particular  task.  There  is  a 
genuine  love  of  music.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is 
much  dishonesty,  as  may  be  witnessed  by  the  proceed- 


38       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

ings  in  the  German  police  courts,  and  has  been  proved 
in  the  gold  and  other  collections. 

The  elimination  of  real  religion  in  the  education  of 
children  and  the  substitution  of  worship  of  the  State  is, 
in  the  minds  of  many  impartial  observers,  something 
approaching  a  national  catastrophe.  In  any  other  com- 
munity it  would  probably  be  accompanied  by  anarchy. 
It  certainly  has  swelled  the  calendar  of  German  crime. 
German  statistics  prove  that  every  sort  of  horror  has 
been  greatly  on  the  increase  in  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century. 

I  went  to  Germany  the  first  time  under  the  impres- 
sion that  the  Anglo-Saxon  had  much  to  learn  from 
German  education.  I  do  not  think  that  any  observer 
in  Germany  itself  to-day  would  find  anything  valuable 
to  learn  in  the  field  of  education,  except  when  the  Ger- 
man student  comes  to  the  time  he  takes  up  scentific  re- 
search, to  which  the  German  mind,  with  its  intense  in- 
dustry and  regard  for  detail,  is  so  eminently  suited. 
The  German  Government  gives  these  young  students 
every  advantage.  They  are  not,  as  with  us,  obliged  to 
start  money-making  as  soon  as  they  leave  school.  As  a 
rule  a  German  boy's  career  is  marked  out  for  him  by 
his  parents  and  the  schoolmaster  at  a  very  early  age. 
If  he  is  to  follow  out  any  one  of  the  thousand  branches 
of  chemical  research  dealing  with  coal-tar  products,  for 
example,  he  knows  his  fate  at  fourteen  or  fifteen,  and  his 
eye  is  rarely  averted  from  his  goal  until  he  has  achieved 
knowledge  and  experience  likely  to  help  him  in  the 
great  German  trade  success  which  has  followed  their 
utilisation  of  applied  science. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PULPITS   OF   HATE 

THE  unpleasant  part  played  by  the  clergy,  and 
especially  the  Lutheran  pastors,  needs  to  be  ex- 
plained to  those  who  regard  clerics  as  necessarily  men 
of  peace. 

The  claim  that  the  Almighty  is  on  the  side  of  Ger- 
many is  not  a  new  one.  It  was  made  as  far  back  as 
the  time  of  Frederick  the  Great.  It  was  advanced  in 
the  war  of  1870.  It  found  strong  voice  at  the  time  of 
the  Boer  War,  when  the  pastors  issued  a  united  mani- 
festo virulently  attacking  Great  Britain. 

These  pastors  are  in  communication  with  the  German- 
American  Lutherans  in  the  United  States,  who  exerted 
their  influence  to  the  utmost  against  the  election  of 
President  Wilson,  taking  their  instructions  indirectly 
from  the  German  Foreign  Office. 

The  state  of  affairs  in  the  German  churches  is  so  dif- 
ferent from  anything  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
and  in  Great  Britain,  that  it  is  almost  as  difficult  to 
make  people  in  England  understand  war-preaching  min- 
isters as  it  is  to  make  them  comprehend  war-teaching 
schoolmasters. 

My  description  of  the  poisoning  by  hate  songs  of  the 
child  mind  of  Germany  at  its  most  impressionable  age 
came  as  a  shock  to  many  of  my  readers.  But  the  hate 
songs  of  the  children  are  not  as  fierce  as  the  hate  hymns 

39 


40      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

and  prayers  of  the  pastors.  Do  the  public  here  realise 
that  of  the  original  Zeppelin  fund  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  marks  were  subscribed  in  churches  and  chapels, 
and  that  models  of  Zeppelins  have  formed  portions  of 
church  decorations  at  festivals  ? 

The  pastors  of  the  Prussian  State  Church  are  in  one 
important  respect  the  exact  opposite  of  Martin  Luther. 
He  was  thoroughly  independent  in  spirit  and  rebelled 
against  authority;  they  are  abjectly  submissive  to  it. 
As  with  the  professor,  so  with  the  pastor,  it  is  no  mere 
accident  that  he  is  a  puppet-tool  of  the  State.  The  Ger- 
man Government  leaves  nothing  to  chance,  and  realising 
to  the  fullest  the  importance  of  docile  and  unified  sub- 
jects both  for  interior  rule  and  exterior  conquest,  it 
deliberately  and  artfully  regulates  those  who  create  pub- 
lic opinion. 

There  are  some  Lutheran  pastors  in  Germany  who 
work  for  an  ideal,  who  detest  the  propagation  of  hate. 
Why,  one  may  naturally  ask,  do  they  not  cry  out  against 
such  a  pernicious  practice  ?  They  cannot,  for  they  are 
muzzled.  When  a  pastor  enters  this  Church  of  which 
the  Supreme  War  Lord  is  the  head,  his  first  oath  is  un- 
qualified allegiance  to  his  King  and  State.  If  he  keeps 
his  oath  he  can  preach  no  reform,  for  the  State,  being  a 
perfect  institution,  can  have  no  flaw.  If  he  breaks  his 
oath,  which  happens  when  he  raises  his  voice  in  the 
slightest  criticism,  he  is  silenced.  This  means  that  he 
must  seek  other  means  of  earning  a  livelihood — a  thing 
almost  impossible  in  a  land  where  training  casts  a  man 
in  a  rigid  mould.  Thus  these  parsons  have  their  choice 
between  going  on  quietly  with  their  work  and  being 
nonentities  in  the  public  eye  or  bespattering  the  non- 


PULPITS  OF  HATE  41 

Germanic  section  of  the  world  with  the  mire  of  hate. 
I  regret  to  say  that  most  of  them  choose  the  latter 
course. 

While  I  was  in  Germany  I  read  a  lenghty  and  solicit- 
out  letter  from  Pastor  Winter,  of  Bruch,  addressed  to 
Admiral  von  Tipitz,  who  had  just  retired  for  the  osten- 
sible reason  that  he  was  unwell,  but  whose  illness  was 
patently  only  diplomatic.  The  good  pastor  expressed 
the  hope  that  his  early  recovery  would  permit  the  ad- 
miral to  continue  his  noble  work  of  olbiterating  Eng- 
land. Pastor  Talk,  of  Berlin,  is  a  typical  fire-eater. 
His  Whitsuntide  address  was  an  attack  upon  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilisation  and  the  urgent  German  mission  of 
smashing  Britain  and  America.  The  Easter  sermons  of 
hate,  one  of  which  I  heard  at  Stettin,  were  especially 
bloodthirsty.  Congregations  are  larger  than  usual  on 
that  day,  which  is  intended  to  commemorate  a  spirit 
quite  the  opposite  to  hate.  The  clergy  are  instructed 
not  to  attack  France  or  Russia,  and  so  it  comes  about 
that,  as  I  have  previously  pointed  out,  in  Prussia, 
Hanover,  Schleswig-Holstein,  Brandenburg,  and  Sax- 
ony, the  pastors  of  the  State  Church  preach  hatred  of 
Britain  as  violently  in  their  pulpits  as  in  their  pastoral 
visits. 

The  pulpit  orators,  taking  their  tip  from  the  Govern- 
ment, are  also  exhorting  their  congregations  to  "hold  out 
and  win  the  war."  I  know  of  one  pastor  in  a  good  sec- 
tion of  Berlin,  however,  who  has  recently  lost  consider- 
able influence  in  his  congregation.  Sunday  after  Sun- 
day his  text  has  been,  "Wir  mussen  durchhalten !" 
(We  must  hold  out !)  "No  sacrifice  should  be  too  great 
for  the  Fatherland,  no  privation  too  arduous  to  be  en- 


42       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

dured  if  one  but  has  the  spirit  to  conquer."  He  paid 
particular  attention  to  the  rapidly  increasing  number 
of  people  who  grumble  incessantly  over  the  shortage  of 
food.  The  good  man  was  clearly  losing  patience  with 
those  who  complained. 

One  day  thieves  broke  into  his  home  and  got  away 
with  an  enormous  amount  of  hams  and  other  edibles. 
I  remind  the  reader  that  ham  had  ere  this  become  un- 
known in  Berlin.  Less  than  three  hundred  pigs  were 
being  killed  there  per  week  where  formerly  twenty-five 
thousand  were  slaughtered.  The  Government  had  more- 
over taken  a  house-to-house  inventory  of  food,  and 
hoarding  had  been  made  punishable  by  law. 

The  story,  of  course,  never  appeared  in  the  papers, 
since  such  divines  are  useful  implements  of  the  State, 
but  the  whole  congregation  heard  of  it,  with  the  disas- 
trous consequence  that  the  good  man's  future  sermons 
on  self-denial  fell  upon  stony  ground. 

One  dear  old  lady,  a  widow,  whose  two  sons  had 
fallen  in  the  war,  told  me  that  she  had  not  gone  to 
church  for  years,  but  after  her  second  son  fell  she  sought 
spiritual  comfort  in  attending  services  every  Sunday. 
"I  am  so  lonesome  now,"  she  said,  "and  somehow  I  feel 
that  when  I  hear  the  word  of  God  I  shall  be  nearer  to 
my  boys." 

I  met  her  some  weeks  later  on  her  way  home  from 
church.  "It  is  no  use,"  she  sighed,  shaking  her  head 
sadly,  "the  church  does  not  satisfy  the  longing  in  my 
heart.  It  is  not  for  such  as  me.  Nothing  but  war,  war, 
war,  and  hate,  hate,  hate !" 

The  German  Navy  League,  an  aggressive  body  which 
had  gathered  around  it  more  than  a  million  members 


PULPITS  OF  HATE  43 

previous  to  the  war,  stirred  up  anti-British  feeling  by 
means  of  leaflets,  newspaper  articles,  kinematograph 
exhibitions,  and  sermons.  Among  the  bitterest  of  the 
preachers  are  returned  missionaries  from  British  pos- 
sessions. 

Although  the  social  position  of  the  pastor  in  a  German 
village  is  less  than  that  of  a  minor  Government  official, 
yet  he  and  his  wife  wield  considerable  influence.  The 
leading  pastors  receive  each  week  many  of  the  Govern- 
ment propaganda  documents,  including  a  digest  carefully 
prepared  for  them  by  the  Foreign  Press  Department. 
I  obtained  some  copies  of  this  weekly  digest,  but  was 
unable  to  bring  them  out  of  Germany.  What  purport 
to  be  extracts  from  the  London  newspapers  are  ingenious 
distortions.  Sometimes  a  portion  of  an  article  is  re- 
printed with  the  omission  of  the  context,  thus  entirely 
altering  its  meaning.  The  recipients  of  this  carefully 
prepared  sheet  believe  implicitly  in  its  authenticity. 
Any  chance  remark  of  a  political  nobody  in  the  House 
of  Commons  that  seems  favourable  to  Germany  is 
quoted  extensively.  Mr.  Ramsay  Macdonald,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  German  village  clergyman,  ranks  as  one  of 
the  most  important  men  in  the  British  Empire.  Mr. 
Stanton,  M.P.,  in  their  view,  is  a  low  hireling  of  the 
British  Government,  doing  dirty  work  in  the  hope  of 
getting  political  preferment.  The  Labour  Leader,  which 
I  have  not  seen  in  any  house  or  hotel  or  on  any  news- 
paper stall,  is,  according  to  this  digest,  one  of  the  lead- 
ing English  newspapers,  and  almost  the  only  truth- 
telling  organ  of  the  Allies. 

These  people  really  believe  this.  When  home-staying 
Englishmen  talk  to  me  about  the  German  War  party,  I 


44      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

find  it  difficult  to  explain  to  them  that  the  German 
War  party  is  practically  the  whole  country. 

One  or  two  better-travelled  and  better-educated  pas- 
tors have  expressed  mild  regret  at  the  bloodthirsty  atti- 
tude of  their  brethren  in  private  conversation.  But  I 
never  heard  of  one  who  had  the  courage  to  "speak  out  in 
open  meeting." 

The  modern,  material  Germany  has  not  much  use  for 
religion  except  as  a  factor  in  government.  The  notori- 
ous spread  of  extreme  agnosticism  in  the  last  quarter  of 
a  century  renders  it  essential  for  the  clergy  to  hold  their 
places  by  stooping  to  the  violence  of  the  Professors. 
Mixed  with  their  attitude  of  hostility  to  Britain  is  a 
considerable  amount  of  professional  jealousy  and  envy. 
A  number  of  German  pastors  paid  a  visit  to  London 
some  two  or  three  years  before  the  outbreak  of  war,  and 
I  happened  to  meet  one  of  them  recently  in  Germany. 
So  far  from  being  impressed  by  what  he  had  seen  there, 
he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  English  clergy, 
and  especially  the  Nonconformists,  were  an  overpaid 
and  undisciplined  body,  with  no  other  aim  than  their 
personal  comfort.  He  had  visited  Westminster  Abbey, 
St.  Paul's^  Spurgeon's  Tabernacle,  the  City  Temple,  and 
had  studied — so  he  told  me — English  Wesleyanism  and 
Congregationalism  in  several  provincial  centres.  He 
was  particularly  bitter  about  one  Nonconformist  who 
had  accepted  a  large  salary  to  go  to  the  United  States. 
He  returned  to  Germany  impressed  with  the  idea  that 
the  Nonconformist  and  State  Churches  alike  were  a 
body  of  sycophants,  sharing  the  general  decadent  state 
of  the  English.  What  struck  him  principally  was  what 
he  referred  to  continually  as  the  lack  of  discipline  and 


PULPITS  OF  HATE  45 

uniformity.  Each  man  seemed  to  take  his  own  point 
of  view,  without  any  regard  to  the  opinions  of  the  partic- 
ular religious  denomination  to  which  he  belonged.  All 
were  grossly  ignorant  of  science  and  chemistry,  and  all 
were  very  much  overpaid.  Here,  I  think,  lay  the  sting 
of  his  envy,  and  it  is  part  of  the  general  jealousy  of  Eng- 
land, a  country  where  everybody  is  supposed  to  be  under- 
worked and  overpaid. 

The  only  worse  country  in  this  respect  from  the  Ger- 
man point  of  view  is  the  United  States,  "where  even 
the  American  Lutheran  pastors  have  fallen  victims  to 
the  lust  for  money."  The  particular  Lutheran  of  whom 
I  am  speaking  had  been  the  guest  of  an  English  Non- 
conformist minister  and  his  wife,  who  had  evidently 
tried  to  be  as  hospitable  as  possible,  and  had  no  doubt 
put  themselves  out  to  take  him  for  excursions  and  out- 
ings in  the  Shakespeare  country. 

"It  was  nothing  but  eating  and  drinking  and  sight- 
seeing," remarked  the  Herr  Pastor. 

I  suggested  that  he  was  a  guest,  to  be  looked  after. 

"I  can  assure  you,"  he  replied,  "that  Mr.  had 

nothing  to  do  all  day  but  read  the  newspapers,  and 
drink  tea  with  his  congregation.  He  did  not  take  the 
trouble  to  grow  his  own  vegetables,  and  all  he  had  to  do 
was  to  preach  on  Sundays  and  attend  a  very  unruly 
Sunday  school.  His  wife,  too,  was  not  dressed  as  one 
of  ours." 

He  explained  to  me  that  his  own  life  was  very  dif- 
ferent. He  eked  out  his  minute  salary  by  a  small  sci- 
entifically managed  farm,  and  I  gathered  the  impression 
that  he  was  much  more  of  a  farmer  than  a  pastor,  for  he 
deplored  his  inability  to  obtain  imported  nitrates  owing 


to  the  blockade.  The  only  question  on  which  he  was 
at  all  unorthodox  was  that  of  the  Junkers  and  their 
regrettable  power  of  holding  potatoes,  pigs,  and  other 
supplies  while  small  men  like  him  had  been  obliged  to 
sell.  He  had  a  good  collection  of  modern  scientific  agri- 
cultural works,  of  which  the  Germans  have  an 
abundance. 

But  while  admiring  the  energy  of  the  great  capitalists 
and  the  National  Liberal  Party,  the  average  clergyman 
tends  towards  sympathy  with  the  Agrarians.  The  pas- 
tor of  the  small  towns  and  villages,  who  is  very  much 
under  the  thumb  of  the  local  Junker  or  rich  manufac- 
turer, has  as  his  highest  ambition  the  hope  that  he  and 
his  wife  may  be  invited  to  coffee  at  least  twice  a  year. 
The  pastor's  wife  is  delighted  to  be  condescendingly 
received  by  the  great  lady.  Herr  Pastor  talks  agricul- 
ture with  Herr  Baron,  and  Frau  Pastor  discusses  past 
and  coming  incidents  in  the  local  birth  rate  with  Frau 
Baron.  Snobbery  has  no  greater  exemplification  than 
in  the  relations  of  the  local  Lutheran  pastor  and  the 
local  landlord  or  millionaire. 

A  sidelight  on  German  mentality  is  contained  in  a 
little  conversation  which  I  had  with  a  clergyman  in  the 
Province  of  Posen.  He  knew  England  well,  by  resi- 
dence and  by  matrimonial  connections. 

This  is  how  he  explained  the  battle  of  the  Somme. 
I  give  his  own  words : — 

"Many  wounded  men  are  coming  back  to  our  Church 
from  the  dreadful  Western  front.  They  have  been 
fighting  the  British,  and  they  find  that  so  ignorant  are 
the  British  of  warfare  that  the  British  soldiers  on  the 
Somme  refuse  to  surrender,  not  knowing  that  they  are 


PULPITS  OF  HATE  47 

really  beaten,  with  the  result  that  terrible  losses  are 
inflicted  upon  our  brave  troops." 

In  this  exact  report  of  a  conversation  is  summed  up 
a  great  deal  of  German  psychology. 

For  the  Salvation  Army  a  number  of  Germans  have 
genuine  respect,  because  it  seems  to  be  organised  on 
some  military  basis.  The  Church  of  England  they  con- 
sider as  degenerate  as  the  Nonconformist.  Both,  they 
think,  are  mere  refuges  for  money-making  ecclesiastics. 


CHAPTER  V 

PUPPET    PROFESSOES 

THE  professor,  like  the  army  officer,  has  long  been 
a  semi-deity  in  Germany.  Not  only  in  his  uni- 
versity lectures  does  he  influence  the  students,  and 
particularly  the  prospective  teachers  of  secondary 
schools  who  hang  on  his  words,  but  he  writes  the  bulk 
of  the  historical,  economic  and  political  literature  of  the 
daily  Press,  the  magazines  and  the  tons  of  pamphlets 
which  flood  the  country. 

Years  before  the  war  the  Government  corralled  him 
for  its  own.  It  gave  him  social  status,  in  return  for 
which  he  would  do  his  part  to  make  the  citizen  an  un- 
questioning, faithful  and  obedient  servant  of  the  State. 
As  soon  as  he  enters  on  his  duties  he  becomes  a  civil 
servant,  since  the  universities  are  State  institutions.  He 
takes  an  oath  in  which  it  is  stipulated  that  he  will 
not  write  or  preach  or  do  anything  questioning  the 
ways  of  the  State.  His  only  way  to  make  progress 
in  life,  then,  is  to  serve  the  State,  to  preach  what  it 
wishes  preached,  to  teach  history  as  it  wishes  history 
taught. 

The  history  of  Prussia  is  the  history  of  the  House  of 
Hohenzollern,  and  the  members  of  the  House,,  genera- 
tion after  generation,  must  all  be  portrayed  as  heroes. 
There  was  a  striking  illustration  of  this  in  1913  when 
the  Kaiser  had  Hauptmann's  historical  play  suppressed 

48 


PUPPET  PROFESSORS  49 

because  it  represented  Frederick  William  III.  in  true 
light,  as  putty  in  the  hands  of  Napoleon. 

There  is  a  small  group  of  German  professors  inter- 
ested solely  in  scientific  research,  such  as  Professor 
Roentgen  and  the  late  Professor  Ehrlich,  which  we  ex- 
clude from  the  "puppet  professors."  Such  men  succeed 
through  sheer  ability  and  their  results  are  their  diplo- 
mas before  the  world.  Neither  shoulder-knots  nor 
medals  pinned  in  rows  across  their  breasts  would  con- 
tribute one  iota  to  their  success,  nor  make  that  success 
the  more  glittering  once  it  is  achieved. 

One  of  these,  a  Bavarian  of  the  old  school,  a  thought- 
ful, liberal  man  who  had  travelled  widely,  told  me  that 
he  deplored  the  depths  of  mental  slavery  to  which  the 
mass  of  the  German  professors  had  sunk.  "They  are 
living  on  the  reputation  made  by  us  scientists,"  he  de- 
clared. "They  write  volumes  and  they  go  about  preach- 
ing through  the  land,  but  they  contribute  nothing, 
absolutely  nothing,  to  the  uplifting  of  humanity  and  of 
the  country."  He  told  me  of  how  Government  spies 
before  the  war  and  during  it  watch  professors  who  are 
suspected  of  having  independent  ways  of  thought,  and 
for  the  slightest  "offence"  such  as  being  in  the  audience 
of  a  Social  Democratic  lecture  (this  before  the  war,  of 
course ;  such  meetings  are  forbidden  now)  they  are  put 
on  the  official  black-list  and  promotion  is  closed  to  them 
for  ever. 

In  warring  Germany  I  found  professors  vying  with 
one  another  to  sow  hatred  among  the  people,  to  show 
that  Germany  is  always  right,  and  that  she  is  fighting  a 
war  of  defence,  which  she  tried  to  avoid  by  every  means 
in  her  power,  and  that  any  methods  employed  to  crush 


50      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Great  Britain,  the  real  instigator  of  the  attack  on  Ger- 
many, are  good  methods. 

With  the  pastors,  they  spread  the  idea  that  "Ger- 
many is  the  rock  selected  by  Almighty  God  upon 
which  to  build  His  Empire."  J.  P.  Bang,  the  able  Dan- 
ish Professor  of  Theology  at  the  University  of  Copen- 
hagen, writes  clearly  on  this  point.  He  says,  when 
describing  Emanuel  Geibel : — 

"He  has  succeeded  in  finding  the  classical  formula 
for  the  German  arrogance,  which  of  necessity  demands 
that  Germanism  shall  be  placed  above  everything  else 
in  the  world,  and  at  the  same  time  in  giving  this  arro- 
gance such  an  expression  that  it  shall  not  conflict  with 
the  German  demand  for  moral  justification.  This  has 
been  achieved  in  the  lines  which  have  been  quoted  times 
without  number  in  the  newest  German  war  literature: 

Und  es  mag  am  deuischen  Wesen 
Einmal  noch  die  Welt  genesen! 
(The  world  may  yet  again  be  healed  by  Germanism.) 

"The  hope  here  expressed  has  become  a  certainty  for 
modern  Germany,  and  the  Germans  see  in  this  the  moral 
basis  for  all  their  demands.  Why  must  Germany  be 
victorious,  why  must  she  have  her  place  in  the  sun,  why 
must  her  frontiers  be  extended,  why  is  all  opposition 
to  Germany  shameful,  not  to  say  devilish,  why  must 
Germany  become  a  world-empire,  why  ought  Germany 
and  not  Great  Britain  to  become  the  great  Colonial 
Power  ?  Why,  because  it  is  through  the  medium  of  Ger- 
manism that  the  world  is  to  be  healed ;  it  is  upon  Ger- 
manism that  the  salvation  of  the  world  depends.  That 
is  why  all  attacks  against  Germanism  are  against  God's 
plans,  in  opposition  to  His  designs  for  the  world;  in 


PUPPET  PROFESSORS  51 

short,  a  sin  against  God.  The  Germans  do  not  seem  to 
be  able  to  understand  that  other  nations  cannot  be  par- 
ticularly delighted  at  being  described  as  sickly  shoots 
which  can  only  be  healed  by  coming  under  the  influence 
of  German  fountains  of  health.  Yet  one  would  think 
that,  if  they  would  only  reflect  a  little  upon  what  the 
two  lines  quoted  above  imply,  they  would  be  able  in 
some  measure  to  understand  the  dislike  for  them,  which 
they  declare  to  be  so  incomprehensible. 

"He  also  prophesied  about  the  great  master  who 
would  arise  and  create  the  unity  of  Germany.  This 
prophecy  was  brilliantly  fulfilled  in  Bismarck.  After 
1866  he  loudly  clamours  for  Alsace-Lorraine.  This  he 
cannot  reasonably  have  expected  to  obtain  without  war ; 
but  when  the  war  comes  we  hear  exactly  the  same  tale 
as  now  of  the  Germans'  love  of  peace  and  the  despicable 
deceitfulness  of  their  enemies.  'And  the  peace  shall  be 
a  German  peace;  now  tremble  before  the  sword  of  God 
and  of  Germany  ye  who  are  strong  in  impiety  and  fruit- 
ful in  bloodguiltiness.' ' 

Hate  lectures  have  been  both  fashionable  and  popular 
in  Germany  during  the  war.  I  was  attracted  to  one 
in  Munich  by  flaming  red  and  yellow  posters  which  an- 
nounced that  Professor  Werner  Sombart  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Berlin  would  speak  at  the  Vierjahreszeiten  Hall 
on  "Unser  Hass  gegen  England"  (Our  Hatred  of  Eng- 
land). 

I  sat  among  the  elite  of  the  Bavarian  capital  in  a 
large  hall  with  even  the  standing  room  filled,  when  a 
black-bearded  professor  stepped  upon  the  stage  amid 
a  flutter  of  handclapping  and  proceeded  to  his  task 
without  any  introduction.  He  was  a  Professor  of 


5  2       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Hatred,  and  it  soon  became  quite  clear  that  he  was  full 
of  his  subject.  His  lank  frame  leaned  over  the  foot- 
lights and  he  wound  and  unwound  his  long,  thin  fingers, 
while  his  lips  sneered  and  his  sharp  black  eyes  gleamed 
venom  as  he  instructed  business  men,  bankers,  smart 
young  officers,  lorgnetted  dowagers  and  sweet-faced 
girls,  in  the  duty  of  hating  with  the  whole  heart  and  the 
whole  mind.  I  soon  felt  that  if  Lissauer  is  the  Horace 
of  Hate,  Sombart  is  its  Demosthenes. 

"It  is  not  our  duty  (duty  is  always  a  good  catchword 
in  German  appeal)  to  hate  individual  Englishmen,  such 
as  Sir  Edward  Grey  and  Mr.  Asquith  and  Mr.  Lloyd 
George.  No,  we  must  go  far  beyond  that.  We  must 
hate  the  very  essence  of  everything  English.  We  must 
hate  the  very  soul  of  England.  An  abysmal  gulf  yawns 
between  the  two  nations  which  can  never,  and  must 
never,  be  bridged  over.  We  need  borrow  Kultur  from 
no  nation  on  earth,  for  we  ourselves  have  developed  the 
highest  Kultur  in  the  world." 

The  professor  continued  in  this  strain  for  an  hour 
and  a  half,  and  concluded  with  the  rather  striking 
statements  that  hatred  is  the  greatest  force  in  the  ivorld 
to  overcome  tremendous  obstacles,  and  that  either  one 
must  hate  or  one  must  fear. 

The  moral  is,  of  course,  obvious.  Nobody  wishes  to 
be  a  coward,  therefore  the  only  alternative  is  to  hate. 
Therefore,  hate  England ! 

I  watched  the  audience  during  the  lecture  and  did 
not  fail  to  note  the  close  attention  shown  the  professor 
and  the  constant  nods  and  sighs  of  assent  of  those  about 
me.  I  was  not,  however,  prepared  for  the  wild  tumult 
of  applause  at  the  finish.  Indeed  the  admiring  throng 


PUPPET  PROFESSORS  53 

rushed  to  the  stage  to  shower  him  with  ad- 
miration. 

"Das  war  dber  zu  schon!"  sighed  a  dowager  near  me. 

"Ja,  ja,  wunderbar.  Ein  Berliner  Professor!"  And 
the  student  with  Sclimissen  (sabre  cuts)  across  his  close- 
cropped  head  smacked  his  lips  with  satisfaction  over  the 
words  much  as  he  might  have  done  over  his  Stein  at  the 
Fiirstenhof. 

I  investigated  Professor  Sombart  and  learned  from 
authority  which  is  beyond  question  that  he  was  an  out 
and  out  Government  agent  foisted  on  to  the  University 
of  Berlin  against  the  wishes  of  its  faculty. 

The  name  of  Professor  Joseph  Kohler  is  known  all 
over  the  world  to  men  who  have  the  slightest  acquain- 
tance with  German  jurisprudence.  His  literary  output 
has  been  enormous  and  he  has  unquestionably  made 
many  valuable  contributions  to  legal  science.  Even 
he,  however,  cannot  do  the  impossible,  and  his  "Not 
Jcennt  Tcein  Geboi"  (Necessity  knows  no  law),  an  at- 
tempt in  the  summer  of  1915  to  justify  the  German 
invasion  of  Belgium,  makes  Germany's  case  on  this 
particular  point  appear  worse  than  ever. 

The  Empire  of  Rome  and  the  Empire  of  Napoleon 
worked  upon  the  principle  that  necessity  knows  no  law. 
Why  should  not  the  Empire  of  William  II.  ?  That  is 
the  introductory  theme.  The  reader  then  wades  through 
page  after  page  of  classical  philosophy,  biblical  philos- 
ophy, and  modern  German  philosophy  which  support 
the  theory  that  a  sin  may  not  always  be  a  sin.  One  may 
steal,  for  example,  if  by  so  doing  a  life  be  saved.  It 
naturally  follows  from  this  that  when  a  nation  is  con- 
fronted by  a  problem  which  involves  its  very  existence 


54       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

it  may  do  anything  which  may  work  to  its  advantage. 
Thus  Germany  did  right  in  attacking  the  little  country 
she  had  solemnly  sworn  to  defend,  and  history  will  later 
prove  that  the  real  barbarians  of  the  war  are  the  Amer- 
icans, since  they  are  so  abjectly  ignorant  as  to  call  the 
Germans  barbarians  for  acting  as  they  did.  So  argues 
Joseph  Kohler,  who  certainly  ranks  among  the  first 
half-dozen  professors  of  Germany. 

There  are  a  few  professors  of  international  law  in 
Germany,  however,  who  have  preserved  a  legally- 
balanced  attitude  despite  their  sympathies.  One  of 
these  wrote  an  article  for  a  law  periodical,  many  of  the 
statements  of  which  were  in  direct  contradiction  to 
statements  in  the  German  Press.  The  German  people, 
for  example,  were  being  instructed — a  not  difficult  task 
— that  Britain  was  violating  international  law  when  her 
vessels  hoisted  a  neutral  flag  during  pursuit.  This  pro- 
fessor simply  quoted  paragraph  81  of  the  German  Prize 
Code  which  showed  that  orders  to  German  ships  were 
precisely  the  same.  Were  this  known  to  the  German 
population  one  of  the  ten  thousand  hate  tricks  would  be 
out  of  commission.  Therefore,  this  and  similar  articles 
must  be  suppressed,  not  because  they  are  not  true,  but 
because  they  would  interfere  with  the  delusion  of  hate 
which  saturates  the  mind  of  the  new  Germany.  I  have 
seen  articles  returned  to  this  distinguished  writer  with 
the  censor  stamp :  Not  to  be  published  till  after  the  war. 

When  a  winning  Germany  began  to  grow  angry  at 
American  munition  deliveries  I  heard  much  talk  of  the 
indemnity  which  the  United  States  would  be  compelled 
to  pay  after  Europe  had  been  duly  disposed  of.  Pro- 
fessor Hermann  Oncken,  of  the  University  of  Heidel- 
berg, made  this  his  theme  in  a  widely  read  booklet,  en- 


PUPPET  PROFESSORS  55 

titled,  "Deutschlands  \Veltkrieg  und  die  Deutsch-Ameri- 
kaner" 

Professor  P.  von  Gast,  of  the  Technical  College  of 
Aachen,  does  not  appear  to  realise  that  his  country  has 
a  sufficient  job  on  her  hands  in  Europe  and  Africa,  but 
thinks  the  midst  of  a  great  war  a  suitable  time  to  arouse 
his  countrymen  against  the  .United  States  in  Latin 
America.  He  explains  that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was 
simply  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  great  Anglo-Saxon 
Kepublic  to  gobble  up  the  whole  continent  to  the  south 
for  herself.  "All  the  world  must  oppose  America  in  this 
attempt,"  he  feels. 

Then  there  is  Professor  Mendelssohn  Bartholdy,  who 
writes  on  reprisals  in  the  Juristenblatt  of  July,  1916. 
It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  he  is  a  professor  of  law 
and  that  he  is  writing  in  a  book  which  is  read  by  legal 
minds  and  not  by  the  general  public;  all  the  more  reason 
that  we  should  expect  something  that  would  contain 
common  sense.  Professor  Bartholdy,  after  expressing 
his  profound  horror  over  the  French  raid  on  Karlsruhe, 
hastens  to  explain  that  such  methods  can  be  of  not  the 
slightest  military  advantage  to  the  French,  but  will  only 
arouse  Germany  to  fight  all  the  harder.  He  deplores 
enemy  attacks  on  unfortified  districts,  and  claims  that 
the  French  military  powers  confess  that  such  acts  are 
not  glorious  by  their  failure  to  pin  decorations  on  the 
breasts  of  the  aviators  who  perpetrate  them,  in  the  same 
way  as  the  German  Staff  honours  heroes  like  Boelke  and 
Immelmann,  who  fight,  as  do  all  German  aviators,  like 
men. 

There  have  been  many  incidents  outside  of  Germany 
of  which  the  professor  apparently  has  never  heard,  or 
else  his  sense  of  humour  is  below  the  zero  mark. 


56      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

My  talks  with  German  professors  impressed  me  with 
how  little  most  of  them  keep  in  touch  with  the  war 
situation  from  day  to  day  and  from  month  to  month. 
A  Berlin  professor  of  repute  with  whom  I  sipped  coffee 
one  day  in  the  Cafe  Bauer  expressed  the  greatest  sur- 
prise when  he  heard  that  a  neutral  could  actually  get 
from  America  to  Germany.  I  heard  this  opinion  very 
often  among  the  common  people,  but  had  supposed  that 
doctors  of  philosophy  were  somewhat  better  informed. 

During  my  conversation  with  another  professor, 
whose  war  remarks  have  been  circulated  in  the  neutral 
countries  by  the  Official  News  Service,  he  remarked  that 
he  read  the  London  Times  and  other  English  news- 
papers regularly. 

"Oh,  so  you  get  the  English  papers  ?"  I  asked,  fully 
aware  that  one  may  do  so  in  Germany. 

"Not  exactly,"  returned  the  professor.  "The  Gov- 
ernment has  a  very  nice  arrangement  by  which  con- 
densed articles  from  the  English  newspapers  are  pre- 
pared and  sent  to  us  professors." 

This  was  the  final  straw.  I  had  always  considered 
professors  to  be  men  who  did  research  work,  and  I  sup- 
posed that  professors  on  political  science  and  history 
consulted  original  sources  when  possible.  Yet  the  Ger- 
man professor  of  the  twentieth  century  is  content  to 
take  what  the  Government  gives  him  and  only  what  the 
Government  gives  to  him. 

Thus  we  find  that  the  professor  is  a  great  power  in 
Germany  in  the  control  of  the  minds  of  the  people,  and 
that  the  Government  controls  the  mind  of  the  professor. 
He  is  simply  one  of  the  instruments  in  the  German 
Government's  Intellectual  Blockade  of  the  German 
people. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   LIE   ON   THE  FILM 

AT  the  end  of  an  absorbingly  interesting  reel  show- 
ing the  Kaiser  reviewing  his  troops,  a  huge  green 
trade-mark  globe  revolved  with  a  streamer  fluttering 
Berlin.  The  lights  were  turned  on  and  the  operator 
looked  over  his  assortment  of  reels. 

An  American  had  been  granted  permission  to  take 
war  films  in  Germany  in  the  autumn  of  1914,  to  be 
exhibited  in  the  United  States.  After  he  had  arrived, 
however,  the  authorities  had  refused  to  Het  him  take 
pictures  with  the  army,  but,  like  the  proverbial  druggist, 
had  offered  him  something  "just  as  good."  In  London, 
on  his  return  journey  home,  he  showed  to  a  few  news- 
paper correspondents  the  fijms  which  Germany  had 
foisted  upon  him. 

"The  next  film,  gentlemen,  will  depict  scenes  in  East 
Prussia,"  the  operator  announced. 

Although  I  had  probably  seen  most  of  these  pictures 
in  Germany,  my  interest  quickened,  for  I  had  been 
through  that  devastated  province  during  and  after  the 
first  invasion.  Familiar  scenes  of  ruined  villages  and 
refugees  scudding  from  the  sulphur  storm  passed  before 
my  eyes.  Then  came  the  ruined  heap  of  a  once  stately 
church  tagged  Beautiful  Church  in  Allenburg  Destroyed 
by  the  Russians.  The  destruction  seemed  the  more 
heinous  since  a  trace  of  former  beauty  lived  through  the 

57 


5  8       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

ruins,  and  you  could  not  view  this  link  of  evidence 
against  the  Russians  without  a  feeling  of  resentment. 
This  out-of-the-way  church  was  not  architecturally  im- 
portant to  the  world  as  is  Rheims  Cathedral,  to  be  sure, 
but  the  destruction  seemed  just  as  wanton. 

The  next  picture  flashed  on  the  screen  showed  a  Rus- 
sian church  intact,  with  the  simple  title,  Russian  Church 
at  Potetschki.  The  moral  of  the  sequence  was  clear. 
The  German  Government,  up  to  the  minute  in  all  things, 
knows  the  vivid  educative  force  of  the  kinema,  and 
realises  the  effect  of  such  a  sequence  of  pictures  upon 
her  people  at  home  and  neutrals  throughout  the  world. 
It  enables  them  to  see  for  themselves  the  difference 
between  the  barbarous  Russians  and  the  generous 
Germans. 

The  reel  buzzed  on,  but  I  did  not  see  the  succeeding 
pictures,  for  my  thoughts  were  of  far-off  East  Prussia, 
of  Allenburg,  and  of  the  true  story  of  the  ruined  church 
by  the  Alle  River. 

Tannenberg  had  been  fought,  Samsanow  had  been 
decisively  smashed  in  the  swamps  and  plashy  streams, 
and  Hindenburg  turned  north-east  to  cut  off  Rennen- 
kampf's  army,  which  had  advanced  to  the  gates  of 
Kb'nigsberg.  The  outside  world  had  been  horrified  by 
stories  of  German  crime  in  Belgium;  whereupon  Ger- 
many counter  attacked  with  reports  of  terrible  atrocities 
perpetrated  by  the  Russians,  of  boys  whose  right  hands 
had  been  cut  off  so  that  they  could  never  serve  in  the 
army,  of  wanton  murder,  rapine  and  burnings.  I  read 
these  stories  in  the  Berlin  papers,  and  they  filled  me 
with  a  deep  feeling  against  Russia. 


THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  59 

One  of  the  most  momentous  battles  of  history  was 
being  fought  in  the  West,  and  the  Kaiser's  armies  were 
in  full  retreat  from  the  Marne  to  the  Aisne,  but  Berlin 
knew  nothing  of  this.  Refugees  from  East  Prussia 
with  white  arm-bands  filled  the  streets,  Hindenburg 
and  victory  were  on  every  tongue,  Paris  was  forgotten, 
and  all  interest  centred  in  the  Eastern  theatre  of  war. 

That  was  in  the  good  old  days  when  the  war  was 
young,  when  armies  were  taking  up  positions,  when  the 
management  of  newspaper  reporters  was  not  developed 
to  a  fine  art,  when  Europe  was  topsy-turvy,  when  it  was 
quite  the  thing  for  war  correspondents  to  outwit  the 
authorities  and  see  all  they  could. 

I  resolved  to  make  an  attempt  to  get  into  East  Prus- 
sia, and  as  it  was  useless  to  wait  for  official  permission 
— that  is,  if  I  was  to  see  things  while  fresh — I  de- 
termined to  play  the  game  and  trust  to  luck. 

Danzig  seemed  the  end  of  my  effort,  for  the  railroad 
running  east  was  choked  with  military  trains,  the  trans- 
portation of  troops  and  supplies  in  one  direction  and 
prisoners  and  wounded  in  the  other.  By  good  fortune, 
however,  I  booked  passage  on  a  boat  for  Konigsberg. 

The  little  steamer  nosed  its  way  through  a  long  lock 
canal  amid  scenery  decidedly  Dutch,  with  old  grey 
windmills  dotting  broad  flat  stretches,  black  and  white 
cows  looming  large  and  distinct  on  the  landscape,  and 
fish  nets  along  the  water's  edge.  To  the  right  the  shore 
grew  bolder  after  we  entered  the  Frishes  Haff,  a  broad 
lagoon  separated  from  the  Baltic  by  a  narrow  strip  of 
pasture  land.  Red  sails  glowed  in  the  clear  sunshine, 
adding  an  Adriatic  touch.  Cumbersome  junk-like  boats 
flying  the  Red  Cross  passed  west  under  full  sail.  Ger- 


60      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

many  was  using  every  man  at  her  disposal  to  transport 
wounded  and  prisoners  from  the  battle  region  which  we 
were  drawing  near. 

A  smoky  haze  ahead  indicated  Kb'nigsberg.  The 
mouth  of  the  Pregel  bustled  with  activity,  new  fortifi- 
cations were  being  everywhere  thrown  up,  while  indis- 
tinct field-grey  figures  swarmed  over  the  plain  like  ants. 
We  glided  through  forests  of  masts  and  rigging  and  slid 
up  to  a  pier  opposite  great  sagging  warehouses  behind 
which  the  sun  was  setting. 

As  I  picked  up  my  bag  to  go  ashore,  a  heavy  hand 
fell  on  my  shoulder  and  I  was  asked  to  wait  until  we 
were  boarded  from  the  police  boat  which  was  puffing 
alongside.  My  detainer,  a  government  inspector,  a  man 
of  massive  frame  with  deep  set  eyes  and  a  shaggy  black 
beard,  refused  to  say  more  than  that  the  police  wished 
to  see  me.  They  had  been  signalled  and  were  coming 
to  the  boat  expressly  for  that  purpose. 

American  ammunition  had  not  begun  to  play  its  part 
in  German  public  opinion  at  that  time,  and,  moreover, 
America  was  being  hailed  everywhere  in  Germany  as  a 
possible  ally  against  Japan.  Therefore,  although  only  a 
few  days  previously  Russian  guns  had  been  booming 
less  than  a  dozen  miles  away,  and  Kb'nigsburg  was  now 
the  base  against  Rennenkampf,  my  presence  was  toler- 
ated, and  I  finally  managed  to  get  lodgings  for  the  night 
after  I  had  found  two  hotels  turned  into  hospitals. 

I  spent  the  following  day  trying  to  obtain  permission 
to  pass  the  cordon  of  sentries  outside  the  city,  but  I 
received  only  the  advice  to  go  back  to  Berlin  and  apply 
at  the  Auswartiges  Ami  (Foreign  Office).  I  did  not 
wish  to  wait  in  Berlin  until  this  campaign  was  over ;  I 


THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  61 

wished  to  follow  on  the  heels  of  the  army  through  the 
ruined  land  and  catch  up  to  the  fighting  if  possible. 
American  correspondents  had  done  this  in  Belgium.  I 
myself  had  done  it  with  the  Austrians  against  the  Serbs, 
and  I  succeeded  in  East  Prussia,  but  not  through  Berlin. 

I  was  well  aware  that  Germany  was  making  a  tre- 
mendous bid  for  neutral  favour.  I  had  furthermore 
heard  so  much  of  Russian  atrocities  that  I  was  convinced 
that  the  stories  were  true;  consequently  I  decided  to 
play  the  role  of  an  investigator  of  Muscovite  crime. 
I  won  Herr  Meyer  of  the  Wolff  Telegraph  Bureau,  who 
sent  me  along  with  his  card  to  Commandant  von  Ranch, 
who  at  first  refused  to  let  me  proceed,  but  after  I  had 
hovered  outside  his  door  for  three  days,  finally  gave  me 
a  pass  to  go  to  Tapiau,  the  high-water  mark  of  the  Rus- 
sian invasion. 

That  night,  "by  chance,"  in  the  Deutsclicr  Hof,  I  met 
the  black-bearded  official  who  had  arrested  me  on  the 
boat,  and  I  told  him  that  I  had  permission  to  go  to  Ta- 
piau next  morning.  When  he  became  convinced  that 
I  was  a  professional  atrocity  hunter  who  believed  that 
the  Russians  had  been  brutal,  his  hospitality  became 
boundless,  and  over  copious  steins  of  Munich  beer  he 
described  the  invaders  in  a  manner  which  made  Glad- 
stone's expose  of  the  Turks  in  Bulgaria,  the  stories  of 
Captain  Kidd,  and  the  tales  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition 
seem  like  essays  on  brotherly  love.  He  was  particularly 
incensed  at  the  Russians  because  they  had  destroyed 
Allenburg,  for  Allenburg  was  his  home.  One  of  the 
stories  on  which  he  laid  great  stress  was  that  a  band  of 
Cossacks  had  pillaged  the  church  just  outside  of  Allen- 
burg on  the  road  to  Friedland,  after  they  had  driven 
sixty  innocent  maidens  into  it  and  outraged  them  there. 


62       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

A  train  of  the  Milit'dr-Personenzug  variety  bore  me 
next  morning  through  a  country  of  barbed  wire,  gun 
emplacements  and  fields  seamed  with  trenches  to  Ta- 
piau, a  town  withered  in  the  blast  of  war.  Two  ruined 
bridges  in  the  Pregel  bore  silent  testimony  to  the  straits 
of  the  retreating  Germans,  for  the  remaining  ends  on 
the  further  shore  were  barricaded  with  scraps  of  iron 
and  wood  gathered  from  the  wreckage. 

Landsturm  guards  examined  my  pass,  which  was 
good  only  for  Tapiau  and  return.  I  decided  to  miss 
the  train  back,  however,  and  push  on  in  the  wake  of  the 
army  to  Wehlau.  Outside  of  Tapiau  I  was  challenged 
by  a  sentry,  who,  to  my  amazement,  did  not  examine  my 
now  worthless  pass  when  I  pulled  it  from  my  pocket, 
but  motioned  me  on. 

The  road  ran  through  eye-tiring  stretches  of  meadows 
pockmarked  with  great  shell  holes  full  of  black  water. 
I  came  upon  the  remains  of  an  old  brick  farmhouse  bat- 
tered to  dust  in  woods  which  were  torn  to  splinters  by 
shell,  bullet  and  shrapnel.  The  Russians  had  bom- 
barded Tapiau  from  here,  and  had  in  turn  been  shelled 
in  the  trenches  which  they  had  dug  and  chopped  in  the 
labyrinth  of  roots.  Among  the  debris  of  tins,  cases, 
knapsacks  and  cartridge  clips  were  fragments  of  uni- 
forms which  had  been  blown  off  Russian  bodies  by  Ger- 
man shells,  while  on  a  branch  above  my  head  a 
shrivelled  human  arm  dangled  in  the  light  breeze  of 
September. 

I  left  the  sickening  atmosphere  of  the  woods  behind 
and  pushed  on  to  Wehlau,  a  primitive  little  town  situ- 
ated on  the  meadows  where  the  Alle  flows  into  the 
Pregel.  Here  my  troubles  began.  Soldiers  stared  at 


THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  63 

me  as  I  walked  through  crooked,  narrow  streets  un- 
evenly paved  with  small  stones  in  a  manner  that  would 
bring  joy  to  the  heart  of  a  shoe  manufacturer.  The  sun 
sank  in  a  cloudless  blaze  behind  a  line  of  trenches  on 
a  gentle  slope  above  the.  western  shore  when  I  entered 
the  Gasthof  Robe,  where  I  hoped  to  get  a  room  for  the 
night. 

I  had  no  sooner  crossed  the  threshold,  however,  than 
I  was  arrested  and  brought  to  the  Etappen-Commandant 
in  the  Pregelstrasse.  I  fully  expected  to  be  placed  un- 
der arrest  or  be  deported,  but  I  determined  to  put  up  the 
best  bluff  possible.  A  knowledge  of  Germans  and  their 
respect  for  any  authority  above  that  invested  in  their 
own  individual  selves  led  me  to  decide  upon  a  bold 
course  of  action,  so  I  resolved  to  play  the  game  with  a 
high  hand  and  with  an  absolute  exterior  confidence  of 
manner. 

Instead  of  waiting  to  be  questioned  when  I  was 
brought  into  the  presence  of  the  stern  old  officer,  I  told 
him  at  once  that  I  had  been  looking  for  him.  I  informed 
him  that  Herr  von  Meyer  and  Commandant  Rauch  in 
Konigsberg  were  in  hearty  sympathy  with  my  search  for 
Russian  atrocities,  but  although  I  succeeded  in  quieting 
any  suspicions  which  the  Commandant  may  have  en- 
tertained, I  found  winning  permission  to  stay  in  Wehlau 
an  exceedingly  difficult  matter. 

Orders  were  orders!  He  explained  that  the  battle 
was  rolling  eastward  not  far  away  and  that  I  must  go 
back.  To  add  weight  to  what  he  said  he  read  me  a  set 
of  typewritten  orders  which  had  come  from  Berlin  the 
day  before.  "Journalists  are  not  allowed  with  the  army 
or  in  the  wake  of  the  army  in  East  Prussia.  .  .  ." 


64      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

he  read,  in  a  tone  which  indicated  that  he  considered  the 
last  word  said. 

But  I  had  become  so  fascinated  with  this  battle- 
scarred,  uncanny,  out-of-the-way  land  that  I  resolved 
to  try  every  means  to  stay.  I  declared  that  on  this 
particular  mission  I  was  more  of  an  investigator  than  a 
journalist,  that  I  had  the  special  task  (self-imposed, 
to  be  sure)  of  investigating  Russian  atrocities;  that  if 
Berlin  reports  were  to  be  given  credence  abroad  they 
must  be  substantiated  by  some  impartial  observer.  If 
Germany  would  supply  the  atrocities,  I  would  supply 
the  copy.  That  she  wished  to  do  so  was  evidenced  by 
the  permissions  granted  me  by  Herr  von  Meyer  of  the 
Wolff  Telegraph  Bureau  and  Commandant  Rauch  of 
the  capital  of  the  devastated  province.  (I  had  passed 
beyond  the  point  where  I  was  told  that  I  could  go,  but 
at  any  rate  their  names  carried  weight.)  Would  it  not 
seem  strange  if  the  Commandant  at  Wehlau  had  me 
sent  back  after  these  great  men  had  set  their  seal  of 
approval  upon  my  investigations  ?  After  Germany  had 
made  such  grave  charges  against  the  Russians,  how 
would  it  impress  American  readers  that  the  German 
Commandant  at  Wehlau  could  not  make  good  and  had 
sent  me  back  ? 

Then,  as  a  finishing  stroke,  I  pulled  my  passport  from 
my  pocket  and  showed  Berlin's  approval  of  me  stamped 
impressively  in  the  right-hand  corner.  This  vise  was 
not  at  all  unique  with  me.  It  had  been  affixed  to  the 
passports  of  thousands  of  Americans  of  all  grades,  and 
was  merely  to  ensure  passage  from  Germany  into  Hol- 
land. As  I  did  not  wish  to  impose  upon  the  time  of  the 
Commandant  I  did  not  burden  him  with  these  extran- 


THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  65 

ecus  details  while  he  feasted  his  eyes  on  the  magic 
words:  Gesehen,  Berlin.  Mount  Olympus,  Mecca,  Im- 
perial and  Ecclesiastical  Rome  all  rolled  into  one — 
that  is  authoritative  Berlin  to  the  German  of  the 
province. 

"Geselien,  Berlin,"  he  repeated  with  reverence,  care- 
fully folded  the  passport  and  deferentially  handed  it 
back  to  me.  I  saw  that  I  was  winning,  so  I  sought  to 
rise  to  the  occasion. 

"And  now,  Herr  Commandant,"  I  began,  "can  you 
suggest  where  I  may  best  begin  my  atrocity  work  to- 
morrow ?  Or  first,  would  it  not  be  well  for  me  to  get  a 
more  complete  idea  of  the  invasion  by  seeing  on  the  map 
just  what  routes  the  Russians  took  coming  in  ?" 

He  unfolded  a  large  military  map  of  peerless  Ger- 
man accuracy  and  regaled  me  for  more  than  half  an 
hour  with  the  military  features  of  the  campaign. 

"Just  tell  me  the  worst  things  that  the  Russians  have 
done,"  I  began,  "and  I  will  start  investigating  them  to- 
morrow." 

Then  he  anathematised  the  Russians  and  all  things 
Russian,  while  his  orderly  stood  stiffly  and  admiringly 
at  attention  and  the  other  officers  stopped  in  their  tracks. 

"First  you  should  visit  the  ruins  of  the  once  beauti- 
ful old  castle  at  Labiau  destroyed  by  the  beasts,"  he 
thundered.  "And  they  also  wantonly  destroyed  the 
magnificent  old  church  near  by." 

He  followed  with  an  account  of  the  history  of  the 
castle,  and  it  was  clear  that  he  was  deeply  affected  by 
the  loss  of  these  landscape  embellishments  which  he  had 
learned  to  love  so  much  that  they  became  part  of  his  life, 
and  that  their  destruction  deeply  enraged  him  against 


66      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

the  enemy.  Though  I  saw  his  point  of  view  and  sym- 
pathised with  him,  I  questioned  him  in  the  hope  of 
learning  of  some  real  atrocities.  It  was  useless.  Al- 
though he  made  general  charges  against  the  Russians, 
he  •always  reverted,  when  pinned  down  to  facts,  with  a 
fresh  burst  of  anger,  to  the  castle  and  church  of  Labiau 
as  his  pet  atrocity. 

The  orderly  had  just  been  commanded  to  take  me  on 
a  search  for  quarters  for  the  night,  when  an  automobile 
horn  tooted  beneath  the  window.  Heavy  steps  on  the 
stairs ;  a  Staff  Officer  entered  the  room,  looked  surprised 
to  see  me,  and  asked  who  I  was.  The  Commandant 
justified  his  permission  to  let  me  remain  by  eulogising 
the  noble  work  upon  which  I  was  engaged,  but  though 
the  Staff  Officer's  objections  were  hushed,  he  did  not 
enthuse  over  my  coming. 

With  intent  to  convince  him  that  I  was  already  hard 
at  work  I  told  him  of  the  terrible  destruction  of  the 
castle  and  church  at  Labiau,  which  I  would  visit  on  the 
following  day. 

"I  have  a  sergeant  below  who  was  there,  and  I  will 
have  him  come  in,"  he  said. 

The  sergeant  entered,  clicked  his  heels  at  attention; 
a  doughty  old  warrior,  small  and  wiry,  not  a  civilian 
thrust  into  field-grey,  but  a  soldier,  every  inch  of  him, 
a  Prussian  soldier,  turned  to  stone  in  the  presence  of 
his  superior  officers,  his  sharp  clear  eyes  strained  on 
some  point  in  space  directly  ahead.  He  might 
have  stepped  out  of  the  pages  of  the  Seven  Years' 
War. 

Nobody  spoke.  The  pale  yellow  light  of  the  oil  lamp 
on  the  Commandant's  desk  fell  on  the  military  faces, 


THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  67 

figures  and  trappings  of  the  men  in  the  room.  The 
shuffling  tramp  of  soldiers  in  the  dark  street  below  died 
away  in  the  direction  of  the  river.  I  felt  the  military 
tenseness  of  the  scene.  I  realised  that  I  was  inside  the 
German  lines  on  a  bluff  that  was  succeeding  but  might 
collapse  at  any  moment. 

Feeling  that  a  good  investigating  committee  should 
display  initiative  I  broke  the  silence  by  questioning  the 
little  sergeant,  and  I  began  on  a  line  which  I  felt  would 
please  the  Commandant.  "You  were  at  Labiau  during 
the  fighting?"  I  asked. 

"I  was,  sir!" 

He  did  not  move  a  muscle  except  those  necessary 
for  speech.  His  eyes  were  still  rigid  on  that  invisible 
something  directly  ahead.  He  clearly  was  conscious  of 
the  importance  of  his  position  as  informant  to  a  stranger 
before  his  superior  officers. 

"I  have  heard  that  the  beautiful  old  castle  and  the 
magnificent  old  church  were  destroyed,"  I  continued. 

"You  know  of  this,  of  course  ?" 

"Ja,  ja,  that  is  true!  Our  wonderful  artillery 
knocked  them  to  pieces  when  we  drove  the  Russians  out 
in  panic!" 

The  sergeant  was  not  the  only  one  looking  into 
space  now.  The  Staff  Officer  relieved  the  situation  by 
dismissing  him  from  the  room,  whereupon  the  Com- 
mandant sharply  bade  the  orderly  conduct  me  to  my 
night  lodgings. 

"Xo  Iron  Cross  for  the  little  sergeant,"  I  reflected, 
as  we  stumbled  through  the  cooked  old  streets  in  the 
dark.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  German  Government 
insists  that  neutral  correspondents  be  chaperoned  by 


68       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

someone  who  can  skilfully  show  them  what  is  proper 
for  them  to  see,  and  let  them  hear  that  which  is  proper 
for  them  to  hear  ? 

Everywhere  in  rooms  lighted  by  oil  lamps  soldiers  sat 
talking,  drinking  and  playing  cards.  They  were  under 
every  roof,  and  were  also  bivouacked  on  the  flats  along 
the  river.  In  all  three  inns  there  was  not  even  floor 
space  available.  The  little  brick  town  hall,  too,  was 
crowded  with  soldiers. 

At  the  pontoon  bridge  we  were  sharply  challenged  by 
a  sentry.  The  orderly  answered  and  we  passed  on  to 
a  crowded  beer  hall  above  which  I  was  fortunate  to 
secure  a  room.  By  the  flickering  light  of  a  candle  I  was 
conducted  to  a  dusty  attic  furnished  with  ferruginous 
junk  in  one  corner  and  a  dilapidated  bed  in  another. 
ISTo  such  luxuries  as  bed  clothing,  of  course ;  only  a  red 
mattress  which  had  not  been  benefited  in  the  least  by 
Russian  bayonet  thrusts  and  sabre  slashes  in  the  quest 
of  concealed  treasure.  I  could  not  wash  unless  I  would 
go  down  to  the  river,  for  with  the  blowing  up  of  the 
bridges  the  water  mains  had  also  been  destroyed.  The 
excellent  organisation  of  the  Germans  was  in  evidence, 
however,  for  during  my  stay  I  witnessed  their  prompt 
and  efficient  measures  to  restore  sanitation  in  order  to 
avert  disease. 

I  went  downstairs  and  entered  the  large  beer  room, 
hazy  with  tobacco  smoke,  and  filled  for  the  most  part 
with  non-commissioned  officers.  They,  like  everybody 
else  in  the  room,  seemed  to  have  heard  of  my  arrival. 
I  joined  a  group  at  a  long  table,  a  jovial  crowd  of  men 
who  chaffed  good  naturedly  one  of  their  number  who 
said  he  wished  to  be  home  with  his  wife  and  little  ones. 


THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  69 

They  looked  at  me  and  laughed,  then  pointing  at  him 
said,  "He  is  no  warrior !" 

But  it  was  their  talk  about  the  Russians  which  in- 
terested me  most.  There  was  no  hate  in  their  speech, 
only  indifference  and  contempt  for  their  Eastern  enemy. 
Hindenburg  was  their  hero,  and  they  drank  toast  after 
toast  to  his  health.  The  Russian  menace  was  over,  they 
felt;  Britain  and  France  would  be  easily  smashed. 
They  loved  their  Army,  their  Emperor,  and  Hinden- 
burg, and  believed  implicitly  in  all  three. 

They  sang  a  song  of  East  Prussia  and  raised  their 
foaming  glasses  at  the  last  two  lines : 

"Es  trinkt  der  Mensch,  es  stiuft  das  Pferd, 
In  Ostpreussen  ist  das  umgekehrt." 

While  they  were  singing  a  man  in  civilian  clothes  en- 
tered, approached  me  with  an  air  of  authority,  and  an- 
nounced in  a  loud  tone  of  voice  that  he  had  heard  that 
I  had  said  that  I  had  come  to  East  Prussia  in  search  of 
Russian  atrocities. 

"My  name  is  Curtin,"  I  began,  introducing  myself, 
although  I  felt  somewhat  uneasy. 

"Thomas!"  was  all  he  said. 

"Good  Heavens!"  I  thought.  "Is  this  man  looking 
for  me  ?  Am  I  in  for  serious  trouble  now  ?" 

Instead,  however,  of  Thomas  being  an  interrogation 
as  to  my  first  name,  it  was  his  simple  introduction  of 
himself — a  strange  coincidence. 

Although  he  was  addressing  his  remarks  to  me,  he 
exclaimed  in  a  tone  which  could  be  heard  all  over  the 
room  that  he  was  Chief  of  Police  during  the  Russian 
occupation  of  Wehlau  for  three  weeks,  and  took  great 
pride  in  asserting  that  he  was  the  man  who  could  tell 


yo      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

me  all  that  I  wished  to  know.  He  was  highly  elated 
because  the  Russians  had  employed  him,  given  him  a 
whistle  and  invested  him  with  authority  to  summon  aid 
if  he  detected  any  wrong-doing.  They  had  further- 
more paid  him  for  his  services.  Although  he  now 
roundly  tongue-lashed  them  in  general  terms,  there  was 
no  definite  personal  accusation  that  he  could  make 
against  them. 

He  told  me  of  a  sergeant  who  went  into  a  house, 
ordered  a  meal  and  then  demanded  money,  threatening 
the  woman  who  had  served  him.  A  lieutenant  entered 
at  this  moment,  learned  the  particulars  of  the  alterca- 
tion, and  struck  the  sergeant,  whom  he  reproved  for  dis- 
obeying commands  for  good  conduct  Avhich  had  come 
from  Headquarters.  "Just  think  of  such  lack  of  respect 
among  officers,"  Thomas  concluded.  "One  officer  strik- 
ing another  for  something  done  against  a  person  in  an 
enemy  country.  That  is  bad  for  discipline.  Such  a 
thing  would  never  happen  in  the  German  Army." 

The  moral  of  the  story  as  I  saw  it  was  quite  different 
from  what  he  had  intended  it  to  be. 

A  few  days  later  I  was  again  in  the  crowded  beer  hall 
when  Herr  Thomas  entered.  He  liked  to  be  in  the  lime- 
light, and  had  a  most  extraordinary  manner  of  appar- 
ently addressing  his  conversation  to  some  selected  indi- 
vidual, but  carried  it  on  in  a  tone  which  could  be  heard 
throughout  the  entire  room.  The  Russian  whistle  which 
he  still  wore,  and  of  which  he  was  very  proud,  threat- 
ened to  become  a  millstone  about  his  neck,  for  return- 
ing refugees  were  accusing  him  of  inefficiency  during 
his  reign,  since  they  asserted  that  the  Russians  had 
stolen  their  goods  from  under  his  very  nose. 


THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  71 

After  he  had  hurled  the  usual  invectives  against  the 
invaders  for  my  benefit,  two  splendid  looking  officers, 
captain  and  lieutenant,  both  perfect  gentlemen,  said 
that  they  hoped  that  I  would  not  become  so  saturated 
with  this  talk  that  I  would  write  unfairly  about  the  Rus- 
sians. They  added  that  they  had  been  impressed  by  the 
Russian  officers  in  that  region  and  the  control  which 
they  had  exercised  over  their  men. 

Early  next  morning  I  met  the  big  man  with  the  black 
beard  who  was  either  on  my  trail  or  had  encountered  me 
again  by  chance.  When  I  said  that  I  was  going  to  Al- 
lenburg,  of  the  destruction  of  which  I  had  heard  so 
much,  he  practically  insisted  that  I  go  with  him  in  his 
carriage.  A  mysterious  stranger  in  brown  was  with 
him,  who  also  assisted  in  the  sight-seeing. 

We  road  through  a  gently  undulating  farming  and 
grazing  country  to  the  Alle  River,  where  we  boarded 
a  little  Government  tug  which  threaded  its  way  through 
dead  cows,  horses,  pigs,  dogs,  and  now  and  then  a  man 
floating  down  the  stream.  Battered  trenches,  ruined 
farmhouses,  splintered  woods,  the  hoof  marks  of  Rus- 
sian horses  that  had  forded  the  stream  under  German 
fire,  showed  that  the  struggle  had  been  intense  along  the 
river.  The  plan  of  battle  formed  in  my  mind.  It  was 
clear  that  the  Germans  had  made  the  western  bank  a 
main  line  of  defence,  which,  however,  had  been  broken 
through. 

"Just  wait  until  we  reach  Allenburg,"  said  the  man 
in  brown,  "and  you  will  see  what  beasts  the  murdering 
Russians  are.  Wait  until  you  see  how  they  have 
destroyed  that  innocent  town !" 

According  to  the  course  of  the  battle  and  the  story 


72       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

of  the  Russian  destruction  of  Allenburg,  I  expected  to 
find  it  on  the  western  bank,  but  to  my  great  surprise  it 
is  on  the  eastern,  with  a  considerable  stretch  of  road 
separating  it  from  the  river.  We  left  the  boat  and 
walked  along  this  road,  on  each  side  of  which  lay  wil- 
lows in  perfect  rows  where  they  had  been  skilfully  felled 
by  the  Russians.  This  sight  evoked  new  assaults  from 
my  guides  upon  "the  beasts"  whom  they  accused  of 
wanton  and  wilful  violation  of  the  arboreal  beauty 
which  the  Allenburgers  had  loved. 

I  put  myself  in  the  place  of  the  citizens  of  Allenburg, 
returning  to  their  little  town  devastated  by  war ;  I  un- 
derstood their  feelings  and  I  sympathised  with  them. 
I  was  seeing  the  other  side  of  Germany's  page  of  con- 
quest. The  war  map  of  Europe  shows  that  she  has  done 
most  of  the  invading,  and  during  all  the  days  I  spent  in 
the  Fatherland  I  never  heard  a  single  word  of  pity  for 
the  people  of  the  regions  overrun  by  her  armies — ex- 
cept, of  course,  the  Pecksniffian  variety  used  by  her  dip- 
lomats. It  was  now  (my  rare  privilege  to  return  with 
German  refugees  to  their  ruined  country,  and  they  vied 
with  one  another  when  they  talked  to  me  in  the  presence 
of  my  guides  in  accusing  the  Russians  of  every  crime 
under  the  sun.  The  war  had  been  brought  home  to 
them,  but  in  the  meantime  other  Germans  had  brought 
the  war  home  even  more  forcibly  to  the  citizens  of  Bel- 
gium and  northern  France,  but  the  thing  could  not 
balance  in  the  minds  of  those  affected. 

I  was  conducted  to  a  combination  home  and  chem- 
ist's shop,  the  upper  part  of  which  had  been  wrecked 
by  a  shell.  The  Russians  had  looted  the  place  of  chem- 
icals and  had  searched  through  all  the  letters  in  the 


THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  73 

owner's  desk.  These  they  had  thrown  upon  the  floor 
instead  of  putting  them  back  neatly  in  the  drawers. 

My  guides  laid  great  stress  on  such  crimes,  but  I  took 
mental  note  of  certain  other  things  which  were  not 
pointed  out  to  me.  The  beasts — as  they  always  called 
them — had  been  quartered  here  for  three  weeks,  but  not 
a  mirror  had  been  cracked,  not  a  scratch  marred  the 
highly  polished  black  piano,  and  the  well-stocked,  ex- 
quisitely carved  bookcase  was  precisely  as  it  had  been 
before  the,  first  Cossack  patrol  entered  the  city. 

The  owner  viewed  his  loss  philosophically.  "When 
we  have  placed  a  war  indemnity  upon  Russia  I  shall 
be  paid  in  full,"  he  declared  in  a  voice  of  supreme  con- 
fidence. 

My  guides  never  gave  me  an  opportunity  to  talk  alone 
with  the  few  civilians  in  the  place,  and  at  the  sausage 
and  beer  lunch  the  conversation  was  based  on  the  "wan- 
ton destruction  by  the  beasts  of  an  innocent  town." 

After  they  had  drunk  so  much  beer  that  they  both 
fell  asleep  I  slipped  quietly  away  and  went  about  amid 
the  ruins.  I  came  upon  human  bodies  burned  to  a  crisp. 
Heaps  of  empty  cartridge  shells  littered  the  ground, 
which  I  examined  with  astonishment  for  they  were  Rus- 
sian, not  German,  shells,  and  must  have  been  used  by 
men  defending  the  town. 

I  met  a  pretty  girl  of  seventeen  drawing  water  at  a 
well,  who  had  remained  during  the  three  weeks  that  the 
Russians  were  there  to  care  for  her  invalid  father,  and 
had  not  suffered  the  slightest  insult.  Yet  all  my  in- 
formants had  told  me  that  the  Russians  had  spared  none 
of  the  weaker  sex  who  had  remained  in  their  path. 

Further  investigations  had  revealed  that  the  Russians 


74      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

had  not  fired  a  shot  upon  the  town,  but  that  the  Ger- 
mans had  destroyed  it  driving  them  out. 

I  entered  a  little  Roman  Catholic  church  in  the  un- 
damaged section  of  the  town  and  noted  with  interest 
that  nothing  had  apparently  been  disturbed — this  the 
more  significant  since  the  Russians  hold  a  different 
faith. 

I  walked  back  towards  the  river  and  strolled  through 
the  neat,  well-shaded  churchyard  to  the  ruins  of  the 
large  church,  the  dominating  feature  of  the  town.  It 
was  clear  from  what  was  left  that  the  lines  of  the  body 
and  the  spire  had  been  of  rare  beauty  for  such  an  in- 
significant place  as  Allenburg. 

"Too  bad!"  I  remarked  to  a  white-haired  old  man 
who  was  sitting  on  a  bench  mournfully  contemplating 
the  ruins. 

"Sad,  so  sad !"  he  said  in  a  voice  full  of  grief.  "And 
it  seems  sadder  that  it  had  to  be  done  by  our  ow» 
people,"  he  added. 

"Were  you  here  during  the  fighting  ?"  I  asked. 

"I  was,"  he  answered.  "I  would  rather  die  than 
leave  this  place,  where  I  was  born  and  where  I  have 
always  lived." 

I  returned  to  the  anxious  guides  and  told  them  that 
I  had  visited  the  ruins  of  the  church. 

"A  destruction  which  could  serve  no  military  pur- 
pose," declared  the  man  in  brown.  "You  see  the 
methods  of  the  people  Germany  is  fighting." 

I  expressed  a  desire  to  seek  only  one  more  thing,  the 
church  on  the  road  to  Friedland  which  had  been  de- 
stroyed by  the  Russians  after  the  sixty  maidens  had 


THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  75 

been  driven  into  it.  We  went  to  it,  but,  alas !  it  had  not 
been  disturbed  in  the  least.  I  somehow  felt  that  my 
guides  saw  the  lack  of  destruction  with  genuine  regret. 
The  big  man  with  the  black  beard  was  at  a  loss  to  recon- 
cile the  story  he  told  me  at  Kb'nigsberg  with  the  actual 
facts  found  on  the  spot. 

"Somebody  must  have  made  a  mistake,"  was  all  he 
said. 

My  last  view  of  Allenburg  was  from  across  the  river 
with  the  long  rays  of  the  setting  sun  burnishing  the 
ruins  of  the  once  beautiful  church,  the  church  I  saw 
months  later  on  the  screen  in  the  London  display  room, 
the  church  that  has  been  shown  all  over  the  world  as 
evidence  of  Russian  methods  in  war. 

I  went  all  through  East  Prussia  studying  first  hand 
the  effects  of  the  great  campaign.  My  luck  increased 
from  day  to  day.  I  secured  a  military  pass  to  visit  all 
hospitals  in  the  XXth  Army  Corps,  which  aided  my 
investigations  not  a  little.  The  prejudice  which  I  had 
against  the  Russians  died  in  East  Prussia.  It  was 
buried  forever  the  following  winter  when  I  was  with 
the  Russian  Army  in  the  memorable  retreat  through 
the  Bukowina.  In  East  Prussia  I  was  in  an  entirely 
different  position  from  a  man  investigating  conditions 
in  Belgium,  for  I  was  in  the  German's  own  country 
after  he  had  driven  out  the  invader.  I  tried  to  see 
some  youth  whose  hand  had  been  cut  off,  but  could  not 
find  a  single  case,  although  everybody  had  heard  of 
such  mutilations.  The  fact  that  no  doctor  whom  I  ques- 
tioned knew  of  any  case  was  sufficient  refutation,  since 
a  person  whose  hand  had  been  cut  off  would  need  some- 
thing more  than  a  bandage  tied  on  at  home. 


76      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

When  the  Russians  entered  the  province  they  struck 
yellow  and  black  posters  everywhere  announcing  that 
it  was  annexed  to  Russia.  In  view  of  this  the  Russian 
officers  were  instructed  to  restrain  their  men  and  to 
treat  the  natives  well.  Isolated  cases  of  violence,  for 
the  most  part  murder  and  robbery  of  the  victim,  had 
occurred  where  men  had  broken  away  from  restraint, 
but  they  were  surprisingly  few. 

After  I  returned  to  Berlin  I  met  an  American  corre- 
spondent who  was  in  East  Prussia  when  I  was.  His 
sympathies  were  pro-German,  but  he  was  an  open  and 
fair-minded  man,  who,  like  me,  had  left  Berlin  with  a 
deep  feeling  against  the  Russians,  thanks  to  the  excel- 
lent German  propaganda.  "I  went  especially  to  get 
some  good  stories  of  Russian  atrocities,"  he  said.  "I 
thought  that  every  mile  would  be  blood-marked  with 
evidence,  but  I  came  back  defeated.  Some  petty  lar- 
ceny and  robbery,  a  Red  Cross  flag  torn  to  shreds  by  a 
Russian  shell,  two  old  men  murdered  and  robbed  by 
Cossacks,  and  a  woman  in  the  hospital  at  Soldau,  who 
had  been  outraged  by  five  Cossacks,  was  all  that  I  could 
find,  even  though  I  was  aided  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment." 

My  own  first-hand  investigations  convinced  me  that 
it  would  be  difficult  for  any  army  in  the  world  to  con- 
duct a  cleaner  campaign  than  Russia  conducted  in  her 
first  invasion  of  East  Prussia.  I  remind  the  reader 
that  I  am  speaking  of  the  first  invasion,  for  I  have  no 
personal  knowledge  of  the  second.  Subsequently  in 
Germany  when  I  spoke  of  the  matter  I  was  always  told 
that  it  was  the  second  invasion  which  was  so  bad.  Per- 
haps! But  I  had  been  fooled  when  Berlin  cried  wolf 
the  first  time. 


THE  LIE  ON  THE  FILM  77 

By  a  stroke  of  fortune  while  in  East  Prussia  I  be- 
came "assistant"  for  two  days  to  a  Government  mov- 
ing picture  photographer  who  had  a  pass  for  himself 
and  assistant  in  those  happy  days  of  inexactitude.  We 
formed  the  kind  of  close  comradeship  which  men  form 
who  are  suffocated  but  unhurt  by  a  shell  which  kills  and 
maims  others  all  about  them.  That  had  been  our  ex- 
perience. He  had,  moreover,  been  over  much  of  the 
ground  covered  by  me  behind  the  front. 

"I  am  instructed  to  get  four  kinds  of  pictures,"  he 
explained.  "(1)  Pictures  which  show  German  patriot- 
ism and  unity.  (2)  Pictures  which  show  German  or- 
ganisation and  efficiency.  (3)  Pictures  which  show 
evidence  of  humanity  in  the  German  Army.  (4)  Pic- 
tures which  show  destruction  by  the  enemy.  Some  of 
my  pictures  are  kept  by  the  Kriegsministerium  for  pur- 
poses of  studying  the  war.  The  greater  part,  however, 
are  used  for  propaganda  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
Furthermore,  I  must  be  careful  to  keep  an  accurate  rec- 
ord of  what  each  picture  is.  The  pictures  are  then  ar- 
ranged and  given  suitable  titles  in  Berlin." 

I  thought  of  all  this  in  the  London  display-room 
when  the  familiar  picture  of  the  ruined  church  flashed 
before  my  eyes  with  the  title  Beautiful  Church  at  Al- 
leriburg  Destroyed  by  the  Russians — a  deliberate  lie  on 
the  film. 

I  have  nothing  to  say  against  the  Germans  for  knock- 
ing their  own  town  to  pieces  or  against  the  British  and 
French  for  knocking  French  towns  to  pieces.  That  is 
one  of  the  misfortunes  of  war. 

The  point  is,  that  the  propaganda  department  of  the 


78      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Wilhelmstrasse  fully  understands  that  people  who  do 
not  see  the  war,  especially  neutrals,  are  shocked  at  the 
destruction  of  churches.  The  Germans  have  been 
taught  an  unpleasant  lesson  in  this  in  the  case  of 
Rheims.  Therefore  they  answer  by  falsifying  a  film 
when  it  suits  their  purpose  with  just  as  little  compunc- 
tion as  they  repudiate  promises. 

"A  little  thing !"  you  might  say. 

That  adds  to  its  importance,  for  it  is  attention  to  de- 
tail which  characterises  modern  Germany.  It  is  the 
subtle  things  which  are  difficult  to  detect.  The  Gov- 
ernment neglects  nothing  which  will  aid  in  the  owner- 
ship of  public  opinion  at  home  and  the  influencing  of 
neutrals  throughout  the  world. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    IDEA    FACTORY 

AGEOUP  of  diplomats  and  newspaper  correspondents 
were  gathered  at  lunch  in  a  German  city  early  in 
the  war,  when  one  of  the  latter,  an  American,  asked  how 
a  certain  proposition  which  was  being  discussed  would 
suit  public  opinion.  "Will  public  opinion  favour  such 
a  move  ?"  he  questioned. 

"Public  opinion !  Public  opinion !"  a  member  of  the 
German  Foreign  Office  repeated  in  a  tone  which  showed 
that  he  was  honestly  perplexed.  "Why,  we  create  it !" 

He  spoke  the  truth.    They  certainly  do. 

The  State-controlled  professor,  parson  and  moving- 
picture  producer  appeal  to  limited  audiences  in  halls 
and  churches,  but  the  newspaper  is  ubiquitous,  particu- 
larly in  a  country  where  illiteracy  is  practically  un- 
known, and  where  regulations  bidding  and  forbidding 
are  constantly  appearing  in  the  newspapers — the  read- 
ing of  which  is  thus  absolutely  necessary  if  one  would 
avoid  friction  with  the  authorities. 

In  a  free  Press,  like  that  of  the  United  States  or 
Great  Britain,  the  truth  on  any  question  of  public  in- 
terest is  reasonably  certain  to  come  to  light  sooner  or 
later.  Competition  is  keen,  and  if  one  paper  does  not 
dig  up  and  publish  the  facts,  a  rival  is  likely  to  do  so. 
The  German  Press  was  gaining  a  limited  degree  of 
freedom  before  the  war,  but  that  has  been  wiped  away. 

79 


8o      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

As  in  other  belligerent  countries  news  of  a  military  na- 
ture must  quite  properly  pass  the  censor.  But  in  Ger- 
many, unlike  Great  Britain,  for  example,  all  other 
topics  must  be  written  in  a  manner  to  please  the  Gov- 
ernment, or  trouble  ensues  for  the  writer  and  his  paper. 
To  a  certain  extent  the  Press  is  a  little  unmuzzled  dur- 
ing the  sittings  of  the  Reichstag — not  much,  but  some- 
what, for  the  reports  of  the  Reichstag  proceedings  are 
strictly  censored.  The  famous  speech  of  Deputy  Bauer 
in  May,  1916,  was  a  striking  example,  for  not  a  word 
of  his  speech,  the  truth  of  which  was  not  questioned, 
was  allowed  to  appear  in  a  single  German  newspaper. 
The  suppression  of  most  of  Herr  Hoffmann's  speech  in 
the  Prussian  Diet  in  January,  1917,  is  another  impor- 
tant case  in  point.  This  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the 
British  Parliament,  which  is  supreme,  and  over  whose 
reports  the  Press  Bureau  has  no  control.  The  German 
Press  Bureau,  on  the  other  hand,  revises  and  even  sup- 
presses the  publication  of  speeches.  When  necessary,  it 
specially  transmits  speeches  by  telegram  and  wireless  to 
foreign  countries  if  it  thinks  those  speeches  will  help 
German  propaganda. 

The  Berlin  and  provincial  editors  are  summoned 
from  time  to  time  to  meetings,  when  they  are  addressed 
by  members  of  the  Government  as  to  what  it  is  wise 
for  them  to  say  and  not  to  say.  These  meetings  consti- 
tute a  hint  that  if  the  editors  are  indiscreet,  if  they, 
for  example,  publish  matter  "calculated  to  promote  dis- 
unity," they  may  be  subject  to  the  increasingly  severe 
penalties  now  administered.  If  a  newspaper  shows  a 
tendency  to  kick  over  the  traces,  a  Government  emissary 
waits  upon  the  editor,  calls  his  attention  to  any  offend- 


THE  IDEA  FACTORY  81 

ing  article  or  paragraph,  and  suggests  a  correction.  If 
a  newspaper  still  offends,  it  is  liable  to  a  suspension  for 
a  day  or  even  a  week,  or  it  may  be  suppressed  alto- 
gether. 

But  in  peace,  as  well  as  in  war,  editors  all  over  Ger- 
many were  instructed  as  to  the  topic  on  which  to  lay 
accent  for  a  limited  period,  and  just  how  to  treat  that 
topic.  For  example,  during  the  three  months  preceding 
the  wrar,  Russia  was  bitterly  attacked  in  the  German 
Press.  From  August  1  to  August  4,  1914,  the  German 
people  had  it  crammed  down  their  throats  that  she  was 
the  sole  cause  of  the  war.  On  August  4  the  Govern- 
ment marshalled  the  editors  and  professors  and  ordered 
them  to  throw  all  the  responsibility  on  Britain,  and  the 
hate  was  switched  from  one  to  the  other  with  the  speed 
and  ease  of  a  stage  electrician  throwing  the  lever  from 
red  to  blue. 

How  do  the  editors  like  being  mere  clerks  for  the 
Government  ?  The  limited  numbers  of  editors  of  inde- 
pendent thought,  such  as  the  "relentless"  Count  Revent- 
low,  Maximilian  Harden,  and  Theodor  Wolff,  detest 
such  a  role,  and  struggle  against  it.  After  sincere  and 
thorough  investigation,  however,  I  am  convinced  the 
average  German  editor  or  reporter,  like  the  average  pro- 
fessor, prefers  to  have  his  news  handed  to  him  to  dig- 
ging it  up  for  himself. 

In  this  connection  the  remark  made  to  me  by  the 
editor  of  a  little  paper  in  East  Prussia  is  interesting. 
After  the  Russians  had  fallen  back  he  told  me  of  two 
boys  in  a  neighbouring  village  whose  hands  had  been 
cut  off.  He  said  that  he  was  going  to  run  the  story,  and 
suggested  that  I  also  use  it.  I  proposed  that  we  make 


8  2       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

a  little  trip  of  investigation,  as  we  could  do  so  in  a 
couple  of  hours. 

He  looked  surprised.  "Why,  we  have  the  story  al- 
ready," he  declared. 

"But  I  am  not  going  to  write  it  unless  I  can  prove 
it,"  I  replied. 

A  moment  later  I  heard  him  sigh  with  despair  as  he 
half  whispered  to  a  cavalry  captain:  "Yes,  yes,  alas, 
over  there  the  Press  is  in  the  hands  of  the  people !" 

Many  newspaper  readers  run  more  or  less  carelessly 
through  articles,  and  many  more  simply  read  the  head- 
lines and  headings.  The  Official  Press  Bureau,  for 
which  no  detail  is  too  minute,  realises  this  perfectly, 
with  the  result  that  German  newspaper  headings  are 
constructed,  less  with  a  view  to  sensationalism,  as  in 
some  British  and  American  papers,  or  with  a  view  to 
condense  accurately  the  chief  news  feature  of  the  day, 
as  to  impress  the  reader — or  the  hearer,  since  the  head- 
lines are  cried  shrilly  in  Berlin  and  other  cities — with 
the  idea  that  Germany  is  always  making  progress  to- 
wards ultimate  victory.  The  daily  reports  of  the  Gen- 
eral Staff  have  been  excellent,  with  a  few  notable  ex- 
ceptions such  as  the  Battle  of  the  Marne  and  the  Battle 
of  the  Somme.  During  reverses,  however,  they  have 
shown  a  tendency  to  pack  unpalatable  truths  in  plenty 
of  "shock  absorber,"  with  the  result  that  the  public 
mind,  as  I  know  from  my  personal  investigations,  is 
completely  befogged  as  to  the  significance  of  military 
operations  which  did  not  go  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to 
the  German  leaders.  In  all  this  the  headline  never 
failed  to  cheer.  When  the  Russians  were  smashing  the 
Austrians  in  the  East,  while  the  British  and  F-rench 


THE  IDEA  FACTORY  83 

were  making  important  gains  and  inflicting  much  more 
important  losses  on  the  Somme,  the  old  reliable  head- 
line— TERRIBLE  RUSSIAN  LOSSES — was  used  until  it  was 
worn  threadbare. 

What  would  you  think,  you  who  live  in  London  or 
New  York,  if  you  .woke  up  some  morning  to  find  every 
newspaper  in  the  city  with  the  same  headlines?  And 
would  you  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  nearly  every 
newspaper  throughout  your  country  had  the  same  head- 
lines that  day?  You  would  conclude  that  there  was 
wonderful  central  control  somewhere,  would  you  not? 

Yet  that  is  what  happens  in  Germany  repeatedly. 
It  is  of  special  significance  on  "total  days."  Those  are 
the  days  when  the  Government,  in  the  absence  of  fresh 
victories,  adds  the  totals  of  prisoners  taken  for  a  given 
period,  and  as  only  the  totals  appear  in  the  headlines 
the  casual  reader  feels  nearer  a  victorious  peace.  On 
the  morning  of  March  13,  1916,  most  of  the  papers  had 
"total"  headlines  for  Verdun. 

Not  so  the  Tageblatt.  Theodor  Wolff,  its  editor,  has 
had  so  much  journalistic  experience,  outside  of  Ger- 
many, and  is,  moreover,  a  man  of  such  marked  ability, 
that  he  is  striving  to  be  something  more  than  a  syco- 
phantic clerk  of  the  Government.  He  is  not  a  grumbler, 
not  a  dissatisfied  extremist,  not  unpatriotic,  but  pos- 
sesses a  breadth  of  outlook  patriotic  in  the  highest  sense. 
On  the  morning  after  the  Liebknecht  riots  in  the  Pots- 
darner  Platz,  his  paper  did  not  appear.  The  reason 
given  by  the  Commandant  of  the  Mark  of  Branden- 
burg was  that  he  had  threatened  the  Burgfriede  by 
charging  certain  interests  in  Germany  with  attempting 
to  make  the  war  a  profitable  institution.  But  there  are 


84      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

those  who  say  that  the  police  were  very  watchful  in  the 
newspaper  offices  that  night,  and  that  the  Tageblatt 
did  not  appear  because  of  its  attempt  to  print  some  of 
the  happenings  in  the  Potsdamer  Platz. 

It  has  been  the  custom  of  Herr  Wolff  to  write  a  front- 
page article  every  Monday  morning  signed  T.  W.  On 
the  last  Monday  morning  in  July,  1916,  in  a  brilliantly 
written  article,  the  first  part  of  which  patted  the  Gov- 
ernment on  the  back  for  some  things,  he  delicately  ex- 
pressed a  desire  for  reform  in  diplomatic  methods  which 
would  render  war-making  less  easy.  Then  he  added 
that  if  some  statesman,  such  as  Prince  Billow,  had 
been  called  as  adviser  in  July,  1914,  a  way  to  avert  the 
war  might  have  been  found. 

This  so  angered  the  Government,  which  has  success- 
fully convinced  its  great  human  sheep-fold  that  Ger- 
many is  the  innocent  victim  of  attack,  that  the  Tageblatt 
was  suppressed  for  nearly  a  week,  and,  like  the  ex- 
Socialist  paper  Vorwaerts,  was  permitted  to  reappear 
only  after  it  promised  "to  be  good."  Theodor  Wolff 
was  personally  silenced  for  several  months.  This  was 
his  greatest  but  not  his  only  offence.  All  over  Ger- 
many the  people  have  been  officially  taught  to  regard 
this  great  war  time  as  die  grosse  Zeit.  Wolff,  however, 
sarcastically  set  the  expression  in  inverted  commas — 
thereby  committing  a  sacrilege  against  the  State. 

Throughout  Germany  monuments  have  been  reared 
and  nails  driven  into  emblems  marked  DIE  GROSSE  ZEIT. 
I  have  often  wondered  just  what  thoughts  these  monu- 
ments will  arouse  in  the  German's  mind  if  his  country 
is  finally  beaten  and  all  his  bloodshed  and  food  depriva- 
tion will  have  been  in  vain. 


THE  IDEA  FACTORY  85 

The  Press  has,  of  course,  been  the  chief  instrument, 
reinforced  by  the  schoolmaster,  professor  and  parson,  in 
spreading  the  doctrine  of  scientific  hatred.  It  is  not 
generally  known  that  Deputy  Cohn,  speaking  in  the 
Eeichstag  on  April  8,  1916,  sharply  criticised  the 
method  of  interning  British  civilians  at  Ruhleben.  He 
went  on  to  say  that,  "reports  of  the  persecutions  of 
Germans  in  England  were  magnified  and  to  some  ex- 
tent invented  by  the  German  Press  in  order  to  stir  up 
war  feeling  against  England." 

I  saw  a  brilliant  example  of  the  German  Press 
Bureau's  attention  to  details  in  the  late  autumn  of 
1914.  I  was  on  a  point  of  vantage  half  way  up  the 
Schlossberg  behind  Freiburg  during  the  first  aerial  at- 
tack by  the  French  in  that  region.  In  broad  daylight 
a  solitary  airman  flew  directly  over  the  town  and  went 
on  until  he  was  directly  over  the  extensive  barracks  just 
outside.  Freiburg  is  a  compact  city  of  85,000  inhabi- 
tants, and  it  would  have  been  easy  to  have  caused  dam- 
age, and  probably  loss  of  life  to  the  civilian  population. 
It  was  clear  to  me  in  my  front-row  position  and  to  the 
natives,  with  many  of  whom  I  afterwards  discussed  the 
matter,  that  the  Frenchman  was  careful  to  avoid  dam- 
aging the  town,  and  circled  directly  over  the  barracks 
on  which  he  dropped  all  his  bombs.  The  Freiburg 
papers  said  little  about  the  raid,  but  to  my  surprise 
when  I  reached  Frankfurt  and  Cologne  a  week  later, 
newspaper  notices  were  still  stuck  about  the  cities  call- 
ing upon  Germans  to  witness  again  the  dastardly 
methods  of  the  enemy  who  attack  the  inhabitants  of 
peaceful  towns  outside  of  the  zone  of  operations. 

The  French  very  properly  and  effectively  practised 


86      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

reprisals  later,  but  the  Germans  believe  that  the  shoe 
is  on  the  other  foot.  And  so  it  is  in  everything  con- 
nected with  the  war.  The  Germans  tell  you  that  they 
use  poisonous  gas  because  the  French  used  it;  in  fact, 
only  their  good  luck  in  capturing  some  of  the  French 
gas  generators  enabled  them  to  learn  the  method. 
Britain,  not  Germany,  violates  the  laws  of  the  sea.  It 
was  the  Belgians  who  were  cruel  to  German  troops, 
especially  the  Belgian  women  and  the  Belgian  children. 

When  the  Verdun  offensive  came  to  a  standstill  a 
spirit  of  restlessness  developed  which  was  reflected  in 
the  Reichstag,  where  a  few  Social  Democrats  attacked 
the  Government  because  they  believed  that  Germany 
could  now  make  peace  if  she  wished,  and  that  further 
bloodshed  would  be  for  a  war  of  conquest,  advocated  by 
the  annexationists. 

During  the  succession  of  German  military  victories, 
especially  in  the  first  part  of  the  war,  there  was  plenty 
of  "front  copy"  both  as  news  and  filler.  Some  of  the 
accounts  were  excellent.  The  reader  seldom  got  the 
idea,  however,  that  German  soldiers  were  being  killed 
and  wounded,  and  after  a  time  most  of  the  battle  de- 
scriptions contained  much  of  soft  nocturnal  breezes 
whispering  in  the  moonlight,  but  precious  few  real  live 
details  of  fighting. 

Regarding  this  point,  a  German  of  exceptional  in- 
formation of  the  world  outside  his  own  country  ex- 
pressed to  me  his  utter  amazement  at  the  accounts  ap- 
pearing in  the  British  Press  of  the  hard  life  in  the 
trenches.  "I  don't  see  how  they  hope  to  get  men  to 
enlist  when  they  write  such  discouraging  stuff,"  he  said. 

After  the  Battle  of  the  Somme  opened,  the  German 


THE  IDEA  FACTORY  87 

newspapers  used  to  print  extracts  from  the  London 
papers  in  which  British  correspondents  vividly  described 
how  their  own  men  were  mown  down  by  German  ma- 
chine-guns after  they  had  passed  them,  so  well  was  the 
enemy  entrenched.  On  that  occasion  one  of  the  manip- 
ulators of  public  opinion  said  to  me,  "The  British 
Government  is  mad  to  permit  such  descriptions  to  ap- 
pear in  the  Press.  They  will  have  only  themselves  to 
blame  if  their  soldiers  soon  refuse  to  fight !" 

This  is  one  of  the  many  instances  which  I  shall  cite 
throughout  this  book  to  show  that  because  the  German 
authorities  know  other  countries  they  do  not  neces- 
sarily know  other  subjects. 

As  weeks  of  war  became  months  and  months  became 
years,  the  censorship  screws  were  twisted  tighter  than 
ever,  with  the  result  that  docile  editors  were  often  at 
their  wits'  end  to  provide  even  filler. 

On  July  14,  for  example,  with  battles  of  colossal 
magnitude  raging  east  and  west,  the  Berliner  Morgen- 
post  found  news  so  scarce  that  it  had  to  devote  most  of 
the  front  page  to  the  review  of  a  book  called  "Paris  and 
the  French  Front,"  by  Nils  Christiernssen,  a  Swedish 
writer.  I  had  read  the  book  months  before,  as  the  Pro- 
paganda Department  of  the  Foreign  Office  had  sent  it 
to  all  foreign  correspondents. 

It  became  noticeable,  however,  that  as  food  portions 
diminished,  soothing-syrup  doses  for  the  public  in- 
creased. Whenever  a  wave  of  complaints  over  food 
shortage  began  to  rise  the  Press  would  build  a  dyke  of 
accounts  of  the  trials  of  meatless  days  in  Russia,  of 
England's  scarcity  of  things  to  eat,  and  of  the  dread 
in  France  of  another  winter.  The  professors  writing 


88       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

in  the  Press  grew  particularly  comforting.  Thus  on 
June  30  one  of  them  comforted  the  public  in  a  lengthy 
and  serious  article  in  the  evening  edition  of  the  Vos- 
siscJie  Zeitung  with  "the  revelation  that  over-eating  13 
a  cause  of  baldness." 

The  cheering  news  of  enemy  privations  continued  to 
such  an  extent  that  many  Americans  were  asked  by 
the  more  credulous  if  there  were  bread-tickets  in  New 
York  and  other  American  cities.  In  short,  Germany  is 
being  run  on  the  principle  that  when  you  are  down  with 
small-pox  it  is  comforting  to  know  that  your  neighbour 
has  cholera. 

The  key-note  of  the  German  Press,  however,  has  been 
to  show  that  the  war  was  forced  on  peace-loving  Ger- 
many. Of  the  Government's  success  in  its  propaganda 
among  its  own  people  I  saw  evidence  every  day.  The 
people  go  even  one  step  farther  than  the  Government, 
for  the  Government  sought  merely  to  show  that  it  was 
forced  to  declare  war  upon  Russia  and  France.  Most 
of  the  German  people  are  labouring  under  the  delusion 
that  Russia  and  France  actually  declared  war  on  Ger- 
many. This  misconception,  no  doubt,  is  partly  due  to 
the  accounts  in  the  German  papers  during  the  first  days 
of  August,  1914,  describing  how  the  Russians  and 
French  crossed  the  frontier  to  attack  Germany  before 
any  declaration  of  war. 

A  German  girl  who  was  in  England  at  the  outbreak 
of  war,  and  who  subsequently  returned  to  her  own  coun- 
try, asked  her  obstinate,  hard-headed  Saxon  uncle,  a 
wealthy  manufacturer,  if  Germany  did  not  declare  war 
on  Russia  and  France.  She  insisted  that  Germany  did, 
for  she  had  become  convinced  not  only  in  England  but 


THE  IDEA  FACTORY  89 

in  Holland.  Her  uncle,  in  a  rage,  dismissed  the  mat- 
ter with:  Du  l>ist  falsch  unterrichtet.  (You  are  falsely 
informed.) 

An  American  in  Berlin  had  a  clause  in  his  apartment 
lease  that  his  obligations  were  abruptly  and  automati- 
cally terminated  should  Germany  be  in  a  state  of  war. 
Yet  when  he  wished  to  pack  up  and  go  his  German 
landlord  took  the  case  to  court  on  the  ground  that  Ger- 
many had  not  declared  war. 

The  hypnotic  effect  of  the  German  newspapers  on  the 
German  is  not  apprehended  either  in  Great  Britain  or 
in  the  United  States.  Those  papers,  all  directed  from 
the  Foreign  Office  in  the  Wilhelmstrasse,  can  manipu- 
late the  thoughts  of  these  docile  people,  and  turn  their 
attention  to  any  particular  part  of  the  war  with  the 
same  celerity  as  the  operator  of  a  searchlight  can  direct 
his  beam  at  any  part  of  the  sky  he  chooses.  For  the 
moment  the  whole  German  nation  looks  at  that  beam 
and  at  nothing  else. 

In  the  late  afternoon  of  an  autumnal  day  I  stopped 
at  a  little  wayside  inn  near  Hildesheim.  The  place 
had  an  empty  look,  and  the  woman  who  came  in  at  the 
sound  of  my  footsteps  bore  unmistakable  lines  of  trouble 
and  anxiety. 

Ko  meat  that  day,  no  cheese  either,  except  for  the 
household.  She  could  not  even  give  me  bread  without 
a  bread-ticket — nothing  but  diluted  beer. 

Before  the  war  business  had  been  good.  Then  came 
one  misfortune  after  another.  Her  husband  was  a 
prisoner  in  Russia,  and  her  eldest  son  had  died  with 
von  Kluck's  Army  almost  in  sight  of  the  Eiffel  Tower. 


90      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

» 

"You  must  find  it  hard  to  get  along,"  I  said. 

"I  do,"  she  sighed.  "But,  then,  when  fodder  got 
scarce  we  killed  all  the  pigs,  so  bother  with  them  is  over 
now." 

"You  are  not  downhearted  about  the  war  ?"  I  asked. 

"I  know  that  Germany  cannot  be  defeated,"  she  re- 
plied. "But  we  do  so  long  for  peace." 

.  "You  do  not  think  your  Government  responsible  at 
all  for  the  war  ?"  I  ventured. 

"I  don't,  and  the  rest  of  us  do  not,"  was  her  unhesi- 
tating reply.  "We  all  know  that  our  Kaiser  wanted 
only  peace.  Everybody  knows  that  England  caused  all 
this  misery."  Then  she  looked  squarely  and  honestly 
into  my  eyes  and  said  in  a  tone  I  shall  never  forget: 
"Do  you  think  that  if  our  Government  were  responsible 
for  the  war  that  we  should  be  willing  to  bear  all  these 
terrible  sacrifices?" 

I  thought  of  that  banquet  table  more  than  two  years 
before,  and  the  remark  about  creating  public  opinion. 
I  realised  that  the  road  is  long  which  winds  from  it  to 
the  little  wayside  inn  near  Hildesheim,  but  that  it  is  a 
road  on  which  live  both  the  diplomat  and  the  lonely, 
war-weary  woman.  They  live  on  different  ends,  that 
is  all, 


CHAPTER  VIII 


TOWARDS  the  end  of  1915  the  neutral  newspaper 
correspondents  in  Berlin  were  summoned  to  the 
Kriegs-Presse-Bureau  (War  Press  Bureau)  of  the 
Great  General  Staff.  The  official  in  charge,  Major 
^icolai,  notified  them  that  the  German  Government 
desired  their  signature  to  an  agreement  respecting  their 
future  activities  in  the  war.  It  had  been  decided,  Major 
Nicolai  stated,  to  allow  the  American  journalists  to 
visit  the  German  fronts  at  more  or  less  regular  inter- 
vals, hut  before  this  was  done  it  would  be  necessary  for 
them  to  enter  into  certain  pledges.  These  were, 
mainly : — 

1.  To  remain  in  Germany  for  the  duration  of  the 

war,  unless  given  special  permission  to  leave  by 
the  German  authorities. 

2.  To  guarantee  that  dispatches  would  be  published 

in  the  United  States  precisely  as  sent  from  Ger- 
many, that  is  to  say,  as  edited  and  passed  by  the 
military  censorship. 

3.  To  supply  their  own  headlines  for  their  dispatches, 

and  to  guarantee  that  these,  and  none  others, 
would  be  printed. 

After  labouring  in  vain  to  instruct  Major  Nicolai 
that  with  the  best  of  intentions  on  the  part  of  the  corre- 
spondents it  was  beyond  their  power  to  say  in  exactly 


92       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

what  form  the  Omaha  Bee  or  the  New  Orleans  Picayune 
would  publish  their  "copy,"  they  affixed  their  signatures 
to  the  weird  document  laid  before  them.  It  was  signed, 
without  exception,  by  all  the  important  correspondents 
permanently  stationed  in  Berlin.  Two  or  three  who  did 
not  desire  to  hand  over  the  control  of  their  personal 
movements  to  the  German  Government  for  an  unlimited 
number  of  years  did  not  "take  the  pledge,"  with  the  re- 
sult that  they  were  not  invited  to  join  the  personally 
conducted  junkets  to  the  fronts  which  were  subsequently 
organised. 

Nothing  that  has  happened  in  Germany  during  the 
war  illustrates  so  well  the  vassalage  to  which  neutral 
correspondents  have  been  reduced  as  the  humiliating 
pledges  extorted  from  them  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment as  the  price  of  their  remaining  in  Berlin  for  the 
practice  of  their  profession. 

It  was  undoubtedly  this  episode  which  inspired  the 
American  Ambassador,  Mr.  Gerard,  to  tell  the  Ameri- 
can correspondents  last  summer  that  they  would  do  well 
to  obtain  their  freedom  from  the  German  censorship 
before  invoking  the  Embassy's  good  offices  to  break 
down  the  alleged  interference  with  their  dispatches  by 
the  British  censorship.  When  the  Germans  learned  of 
the  rebuff  which  Mr.  Gerard  had  administered  to  his 
journalistic  compatriots,  the  Berlin  Press  launched  one 
of  those  violent  attacks  against  the  Ambassador  to 
which  he  has  constantly  been  subject  in  Germany  dur- 
ing the  war. 

As  I  have  shown  in  a  previous  chapter  the  German 
Government  attaches  so  much  importance  to  the  control 
and  manufacture  of  public  opinion  through  the  Press 


CORRESPONDENTS  IN  SHACKLES    93 

that  it  is  drastic  in  the  regulation  of  German  news- 
papers. It  is  therefore  comprehensible  that  it  should 
strive  to  enlist  to  the  fullest  possible  extent  the  Press  of 
other  countries.  At  least  one  paper  in  practically  every 
neutral  country  is  directly  subsidised  by  the  German 
Foreign  Office,  which  does  not,  however,  stop  at  this. 
The  attempt  to  seduce  the  newspapers  of  other  nations 
into  interpreting  the  Fatherland  as  the  Wilhelmstrasse 
wishes  it  to  be  interpreted  leads  the  investigators  to  a 
subterranean  labyrinth  of  schemes  which  would  fill  a 
volume. 

Archduke  Franz  Ferdinand  was  assassinated  on 
June  28,  1914.  Long  before  that  Dr.  Hammann,  head 
of  the  Nachrichtendienst  of  the  German  Foreign  Office, 
had  organised  a  plan  for  the  successful  influencing  of 
the  Press  of  the  world.  In  May,  1914,  the  work  of  a 
special  bureau  under  his  direction  and  presided  over  by 
a  woman  of  international  reputation  was  in  full  opera- 
tion. 

The  following  incident,  which  is  one  of  the  many  I 
might  cite,  throws  interesting  light  on  one  method  of 
procedure.  The  head  of  the  special  bureau  asked  one 
of  the  best  known  woman  newspaper  reporters  of  Nor- 
way if  she  would  like  to  do  some  easy  work  which 
would  take  up  very  little  of  her  time  and  for  which  she 
would  be  well  paid. 

The  Norwegian  reporter  was  interested  and  asked  for 
particulars. 

"Germany  wishes  to  educate  other  countries  to  a  true 
appreciation  of  things  German.  Within  a  year,  or  at 
most  within  two  years,  we  shall  be  doing  this  by  send- 
ing to  foreign  newspapers  articles  which  will  instruct 


94      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

the  world  about  Germany.  Of  course,  it  is  not  advis- 
able to  send  them  directly  from  our  own  bureau;  it  is 
much  better  to  have  them  appear  to  come  from  the 
correspondents  of  the  various  foreign  newspapers. 
Thus,  we  shall  send  you  articles  which  you  need  only 
copy  or  translate  and  sign." 

This  has  been  the  practice  in  German  journalism  for 
years,  and  its  extension  to  other  countries  was  merely  a 
chain  in  the  link  of  Germany's  deliberate  and  thorough 
preparations  for  the  war. 

With  a  few  exceptions,  German  reporters  and  corre- 
spondents are  underpaid  sycophants,  mere  putty  in  the 
hands  of  the  Government.  Therefore,  the  chagrin  of 
the  officials  over  the  independence  and  ability  of  the 
majority  of  the  American  correspondents  is  easy  to  un- 
derstand. The  Wilhelmstrasse  determined  to  control 
them,  and  through  them  to  influence  the  American 
Press.  Hence  the  rules  given  above. 

When  a  man  signs  an  agreement  that  he  will  not 
leave  Germany  until  the  end  of  the  war,  without  special 
dispensation,  he  has  bound  himself  to  earn  his  liveli- 
hood in  that  country.  He  cannot  do  this  without  the 
consent  of  the  Government,  for  if  he  does  not  write  in 
a  manner  to  please  them  they  can  slash  his  copy,  de- 
lay it,  and  prevent  him  from  going  on  trips  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  will  be  a  failure  with  his  newspaper  at 
home.  His  whole  success  depends  therefore  upon  his 
being  "good"  much  after  the  manner  in  which  a  Ger- 
man editor  must  be  "good."  If  he  expresses  a  wish  to 
leave  Germany  before  the  end  of  the  war  and  the  wish 
is  granted,  he  feels  that  a  great  favour  has  been  con- 
ferred upon  him  and  he  is  supposed  to  feel  himself 


CORRESPONDENTS  IN  SHACKLES    95 

morally  bound  to  be  "good"  to  Germany  in  the  future. 

The  American  journalistic  colony  in  Germany  is  an 
entirely  different  thing  from  what  it  used  to  be  in  pre- 
war days.  Before  1914  it  consisted  merely  of  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Associated  Press  and  United  Press, 
half  a  dozen  New  York  papers  (including  the  notorious 
New-Yorker  Staats-Zeitung),  and  the  well-known  and 
important  Western  journal,  the  Chicago  Daily  News. 
To-day  many  papers  published  in  the  United  States  are 
represented  in  Berlin  by  special  correspondents.  The 
influx  of  newcomers  has  been  mostly  from  German-lan- 
guage papers,  printed  in  such  Teutonic  centres  as  Chi- 
cago, Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  Milwaukee,  etc.  Journals 
like  the  Illinoiser  Staats-zeitung,  of  Chicago,  which  for 
years  past  has  barely  been  able  to  keep  its  head  above 
water,  have  suddenly  found  themselves  affluent  enough 
to  maintain  correspondents  in  Europe  who,  for  their 
part,  scorn  lodgings  less  pretentious  than  those  of  the 
de  luxe  Hotel  Adlon  in  Unter  den  Linden. 

The  bright  star  in  the  American  journalistic  firma- 
ment in  Berlin  is  Karl  Heinrich  von  Wiegand,  the  spe- 
cial representative  of  the  New  York  World.  The  New 
York  World  is  not  pro-German,  but  von  Wiegand  is  of 
direct,  and  noble  German  origin.  Apart  from  his  ad- 
mitted talents  as  a  newspaper  man,  his  Prussian  "von" 
is  of  no  inconsiderable  value  to  any  newspaper  which 
employs  him.  Von  Wiegand,  I  believe,  is  a  native  of 
California.  Persons  unfriendly  to  him  assert  that  he  is 
really  a  native  of  Prussia,  who  went  to  the  United 
States  when  a  child.  Wherever  he  was  born,  he  is  now 
typically  American,  and  speaks  German  with  an  unmis- 
takable Transatlantic  accent.  He  is  a  bookseller  by 


96      THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

origin,  and  his  little  shop  in  San  Francisco  was  wiped 
out  by  the  earthquake.  About  forty-five  years  of  age, 
he  is  a  man  of  medium  build,  conspicuously  near- 
sighted, wears  inordinately  thick  "Teddy  Roosevelt  eye- 
glasses," and  is  in  his  whole  bearing  a  "real"  Westerner 
of  unusually  affable  personality.  Von  Wiegand 
claims,  when  taunted  with  being  a  Press  agent  of  the 
German  Government,  that  he  is  nothing  but  an  enter- 
prising correspondent  of  the  New  York  World.  1  did 
not  find  this  opinion  of  himself  fully  shared  in  Ger- 
many. There  are  many  people  who  will  tell  you  that  if 
von  Wiegand  is  not  an  actual  attache  of  the  German 
Press  Bureau,  his  "enterprise"  almost  always  takes  the 
form  of  very  effective  Press  agent  work  for  the  Kaiser's 
cause.  He  certainly  comes  and  goes  at  all  official  head- 
quarters in  Germany  on  terms  of  welcome  and  intimacy, 
and  is  a  close  friend  of  the  notorious  Count  Reventlow. 

My  personal  opinion,  however,  is  that  he  is  above  all 
a  journalist,  and  an  exceedingly  able  one. 

Von  Wiegand's  liaison  with  the  powers  that  be  in 
Berlin  has  long  been  a  standing  joke  among  his  Ameri- 
can colleagues.  Shortly  after  the  fall  of  Warsaw  in 
August,  1915,  when  the  stage  in  Poland  was  set  for 
exhibition  to  the  neutral  world,  he  was  roused  from  his 
slumbers  in  his  suite  at  the  Adlon  by  a  midnight  tele- 
phone message,  apprising  him  that  if  he  would  be  at 
Friedrichstrasse  Station  at  4.30  the  next  morning,  with 
packed  bags,  he  would  be  the  only  correspondent  to  be 
taken  on  a  staff  trip  to  Warsaw.  Wiegand  was  there 
at  the  appointed  hour,  but  was  astonished  to  discover 
that  he  had  been  hoaxed.  The  perpetrators  of  the  "rag" 
were  some  of  his  U.  S.  confreres. 


CORRESPONDENTS  IN  SHACKLES    97 

Von  Wiegand  for  nearly  two  years  has  been  the  re- 
cipient  of  such  marked  and  exclusive  favours  in  Berlin 
that  Mr.  Hearst's  New  York  American  (the  chief  rival 
of  the  New  York  World,  and  the  head  of  the  "Interna- 
tional News  Service"  which  has  been  suppressed  in 
Great  Britain,  where  it  has  been  proved  to  have  ma- 
liciously lied  on  divers  occasions)  decided  to  send  to 
Germany  a  special  correspondent  who  would  also  have 
a  place  in  the  sun.  The  gentleman  appointed  to  crowd 
Mr.  von  Wiegand  out  of  the  limelight  was  a  former 
clergyman  named  Dr.  William  Bayard  Hale,  a  gifted 
writer  and  speaker,  who  obtained  some  international 
notoriety  eight  years  ago  by  interviewing  the  Kaiser. 
That  interview  was  so  full  of  blazing  political  indis- 
cretions that  the  German  Government  suppressed  it  at 
great  cost  by  buying  up  the  entire  issue  of  the  New 
York  magazine  in  which  the  explosion  was  about  to 
take  place.  Enough  of  the  contents  of  the  interview 
subsequently  leaked  out  to  indicate  that  its  main  fea- 
ture was  the  German  Emperor's  insane  animosity  to 
Great  Britain  and  Japan  and  his  determination  to  go 
to  war  with  them. 

Dr.  Hale  also  enjoyed  the  prestige  of  having  once 
been  an  intimate  of  President  Wilson.  He  had  written 
the  latter's  biography,  and  later  represented  him  in 
Mexico  as  a  special  emissary.  Shortly  before  the  war 
he  married  a  New  York  German  woman,  who  is,  I  be- 
lieve, a  sister  or  near  relative  of  Herr  Muschenheim, 
the  owner  of  the  Hotel  Astor,  which  in  1914  and  1915 
was  inhabited  by  the  German  propaganda  bureau,  or 
one  of  the  many  bureaus  maintained  in  New  York  City. 
From  the  date  of  his  German  matrimonial  alliance  Dr. 


98       THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Hale  became  an  ardent  protagonist  of  Kultur.  One  of 
his  last  activities  before  going  to  Germany  was  to  edit 
a  huge  "yellow  book"  which  summarised  "Great 
Britain's  violations  of  international  law"  and  the  acri- 
monious correspondence  on  contraband  and  shipping 
controversies  between  the  British  and  American  Gov- 
ernments. This  publication  was  financed  by  the  German 
publicity  organisation  and  widely  circulated  in  the 
United  States  and  all  neutral  countries. 

Dr.  Hale,  a  tall,  dark,  keen-looking,  smooth-shaven, 
and  smooth-spoken  American,  received  in  Berlin  on  his 
arrival  a  welcome  customarily  extended  only  to  a  new- 
coming  foreign  Ambassador.  He  came,  of  course,  pro- 
vided with  the  warmest  credentials  Count  Bernstorff 
could  supply.  Long  before  Hale  had  a  chance  to  pre- 
sent himself  at  the  Foreign  Office,  the  Foreign  Office 
presented  itself  to  him,  an  emissary  from  the  Imperial 
Chancellor  having,  according  to  the  story  current  in 
Berlin,  left  his  compliments  at  Dr.  Hale's  hotel.  He 
had  not  been  in  Berlin  many  days  before  an  interview 
with  Bethmann-Hollweg  was  handed  to  him  on  a  silver 
plate.  Forthwith  the  New  York  American  began  to  be 
deluged  with  the  journalistic  sweetmeats — Ministerial 
interviews,  Departmental  statements,  and  exclusive 
news  tit-bits — with  which  Karl  Heinrich  von  Wiegand 
had  so  long  and  alone  been  distinguishing  himself. 

I  have  told  in  detail  these  facts  about  von  Wiegand 
and  Hale  because  between  them  the  two  men  are  able 
to  flood  the  American  public  with  a  torrent  of  German- 
made  news  and  views,  whose  volume  and  influence  are 
tremendous.  The  New  York  World's  European  news 
is  "syndicated"  to  scores  of  newspapers  throughout  the 


CORRESPONDENTS  IN  SHACKLES    99 

American  continent,  and  the  service  has  "featured" 
von  Wiegand's  Berlin  dispatches  to  the  exclusion,  or  at 
least  almost  to  the  eclipse,  of  the  World's  other  war 
news.  Hale's  dispatches  to  the  Hearst  Press  have  been 
published  all  the  way  across  the  Republic,  not  only  in 
the  dailies  of  vast  circulation  owned  by  Mr.  Hearst  in 
New  York,  Boston,  Chicago,  San  Francisco,  Los  An- 
geles, and  elsewhere,  but  also  in  a  great  many  other 
papers  like  the  prominent  Philadelphia  North  Ameri- 
can, which  subscribed  to  the  "International  News  Ser- 
vice." 

The  German  authorities  understand  all  this  perfectly 
well.  That  explains  their  unceasing  attentions  to  von 
Wiegand  and  Hale,  and  to  other  valuable  correspon- 
dents. One  of  these  recently  undertook  to  compile  a 
book  on  Belgium  in  war-time  for  the  purpose  of  white- 
washing Germans  in  American  estimation.  Accom- 
panied by  his  wife,  he  was  motored  and  wined  and 
dined  through  the  conquered  country  under  the  watch- 
ful chaperonage  of  German  officers.  He  has  returned 
to  Berlin  to  write  his  book,  although  it  is  com- 
mon knowledge  there  that  during  his  entire  stay  in 
Belgium  he  was  not  permitted  to  talk  to  a  single 
Belgian. 

Although  nominally  catered  to  and  fawned  upon  by 
the  German  authorities,  the  American  correspondents 
cut  on  the  whole  a  humiliating  figure,  although  not  all 
of  them  realise  it.  It  is  notorious  they  are  spied  upon 
day  and  night.  They  are  even  at  times  ruthlessly 
scorned  by  their  benefactors  in  the  Wilhelmstrasse. 
One  of  the  Americans  who  essays  to  be  independent, 
was  some  time  ago  a  member  of  a  journalistic  party 


i  oo     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

conducted  to  Lille.  He  left  the  party  long  enough  to 
stroll  into  a  jeweller's  shop  to  purchase  a  new  glass  for 
his  watch.  While  making  the  purchase  he  asked  the 
Frenchman  who  waited  on  him  how  he  liked  the  Ger- 
mans. "They  are  very  harsh,  but  just,"  was  the  reply. 
A  couple  of  weeks  later,  when  the  correspondents  were 
back  in  Berlin,  Major  Nicolai,  of  the  War  Press 
Bureau,  sent  for  the  correspondent,  said  to  him  that  he 
knew  of  the  occasion  on  which  the  American  journalist 
had  "left  the  party"  in  Lille,  and  demanded  to  know 
what  had  occurred  in  the  watchmaker's  shop.  The 
correspondent  repeated  precisely  what  the  Frenchman 
had  said.  "Well,"  snarled  Major  ISTicolai,  "why  didn't 
you  send  that  to  your  papers?"  I  may  mention  here 
that  these  parties  of  neutral  correspondents  are  herded 
rather  than  conducted  when  on  tour. 

The  American  correspondents  had  a  sample  of  the 
actual  contempt  in  which  the  German  authorities  hold 
them  on  the  day  when  the  commercial  submarine 
Deutschland  returned  to  Bremen,  August  23.  For  pur- 
poses of  glorifying  the  Deutschland' s  achievement  in 
the  United  States,  the  American  correspondents  in  Ber- 
lin were  dispatched  to  Bremen,  where  they  were  told 
that  elaborate  special  arrangements  for  their  reception 
and  entertainment  had  been  completed.  Count  Zeppelin, 
two  airship  commanders,  who  had  just  raided  England, 
and  a  number  of  other  national  heroes  would  be  pres- 
ent, together  with  the  Grand  Duke  of  Oldenburg  at  the 
head  of  a  galaxy  of  civil,  military,  and  naval  digni- 
taries. The  grand  climax  of  the  Deutschland  joy  car- 
nival was  to  be  a  magnificent  banquet  with  plenty  of 
that  rare  luxury,  bread  and  butter,  at  the  famous 


CORRESPONDENTS  IN  SHACKLES  101 

Bremen  Rathaus  accompanied  by  both  oratorical  and 
pyrotechnical  fireworks.  The  correspondents  were 
given  an  opportunity  to  watch  the  triumphal  progess 
of  the  Deutschland  through  the  Weser  into  Bremen  har- 
bour, but  at  night,  when  they  looked  for  their  places  at 
the  Rathaus  feast,  they  were  informed  that  there  was 
no  room  for  them.  An  overflow  banquet  had  been  ar- 
ranged in  their  special  honour  in  a  neighbouring  tav- 
ern. This  was  too  much  even  for  some  of  the  War 
Press  Bureau's  best  American  friends,  and  the  overflow 
dinner  party  was  served  at  a  table  which  contained 
many  vacant  chairs.  Their  intended  occupiers  had 
taken  the  first  train  back  to  Berlin,  thoroughly  dis- 
gusted. 

It  is  fair  to  say  that  several  of  the  principal  Amer- 
ican correspondents  in  Berlin  are  making  a  serious  ef- 
fort to  practise  independent  journalism,  but  it  is  a  diffi- 
cult and  hopeless  struggle.  They  are  shackled  and  con- 
trolled from  one  end  of  the  week  to  the  other.  They 
could  not  if  they  wished  send  the  unadorned  truth  to 
the  United  States.  All  they  are  permitted  to  report  is 
that  portion  of  the  truth  which  reflects  Germany  in  the 
light  in  which  it  is  useful  for  Germany  to  appear  from 
time  to  time. 

Germany  has  organised  news  for  neutrals  in  the  most 
intricate  fashion.  A  certain  kind  of  news  is  doled  out 
for  the  United  States,  a  totally  different  kind  for  Spain, 
and  still  a  different  brand,  when  emergency  demands, 
for  Switzerland,  Brazil,  or  China.  There  is  a  Chinese 
correspondent  among  the  other  "neutrals"  in  Germany. 
The  "news"  prepared  for  him  by  Major  Nicolai's  de- 
partment would  be  very  amusing  reading  in  the  col- 

U8RARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
RIVERSIDE 


102     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

umns  of  Mr.  von  Wiegand's  or  Dr.  Hale's  papers. 
There  is  a  celebrated  and  pro- Ally  newspaper  in  l^ew 
York  whose  motto  is  "All  the  news  that's  fit  to  print." 
The  motto  of  the  German  War  Press  Bureau  is  "All  the 
news  that's  safe  to  print." 


CHAPTER  IX 

ANTON  LANG  OF  OBERAMMERGAU 

WHILE  I  was  at  home  on  a  few  weeks'  visit  in  Oc- 
tober, 1915,  I  read  in  the  newspapers  a  simple 
announcement  cabled  from  Europe  that  Anton  Lang  of 
Oberammergau  had  been  killed  in  the  great  French  of- 
fensive in  Champagne.  This  came  as  a  shock  to  many 
Americans,  for  the  name  of  this  wonderful  character 
who  had  inspired  people  of  all  shades  of  opinion  and 
religious  belief  in  his  masterful  impersonation  of  Christ 
in  the  decennial  Passion  Play  was  almost  as  well  known 
in  the  United  States  and  in  England  as  in  his  native 
Bavaria,  and  better,  I  found  than  in  Prussia. 

British  and  American  tourist  agencies  had  put 
Oberammergau  on  the  map  of  the  world.  The  interest 
in  America  after  the  Passion  Play  of  1910  was  so  great, 
in  fact,  that  some  newspapers  ran  extensive  series  of  il- 
lustrated articles  describing  it.  The  man  who  played 
the  part  of  Christ  was  idealised,  everybody  who  had 
seen  him  liked  him,  respected  him  and  admired  him. 
Thousands  had  said  that  somehow  a  person  felt  better 
after  he  had  seen  Anton  Lang.  As  a  supreme  test  of 
his  popularity,  American  vaudeville  managers  asked 
him  to  name  his  own  terms  for  a  theatrical  tour. 

And  now  the  man  who  had  imbued  his  life  with  that 
of  the  Prince  of  Peace  had  thrown  the  past  aside,  and 
with  the  spiked  helmet  in  place  of  the  Crown  of  Thorns 

103 


104     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

had  gone  to  his  death  trying  not  to  save  but  to  slaughter 
his  fellow-men. 

Truly,  the  changes  wrought  by  war  are  great ! 
*  *  *  -x-  * 

In  Berlin  I  inquired  into  the  circumstances  of  Anton 
Lang's  death.  Nobody  knew  anything  definite.  Ber- 
lin knew  little  of  him  in  life,  much  less  than  London, 
New  York  or  Montreal. 

Munich  is  different.  There  his  name  is  a  household 
word.  Herr  von  Meinl,  then  Director  of  the  Bavarian 
Ministry,  now  member  of  the  Bundesrat,  told  me  that 
he  believed  that  there  was  a  mistake  in  the  report  that 
Anton  had  been  killed. 

Later,  when  tramping  through  the  Bavarian  High- 
lands, I  walked  one  winter  day  from  Partenkirchen  to 
Oberammergau,  for  I  had  a  whim  to  know  the  truth 
of  the  matter. 

On  the  lonely  mountain  road  that  winds  sharply  up 
from  Oberau  I  overtook  a  Benedictine  monk  who  was 
walking  to  the  monastery  at  Ettal.  We  talked  of  the 
war  in  general  and  of  the  Russian  prisoners  we  had 
seen  in  the  saw-mills  at  Untermberg.  I  was  curious 
to  hear  his  views  upon  the  war,  and  I  soon  saw  that  not 
even  the  thick  walls  of  a  monastery  are  proof  against 
the  idea-machine  in  the  Wilhelmstrasse.  Despite  Car- 
dinal Mercier's  denunciation  of  German  methods  in 
Belgium,  this  monk's  views  were  the  same  as  the  rest  of 
the  Kaiser's  subjects.  He  did,  however,  admit  that  he 
was  sorry  for  the  Belgians,  although,  in  true  German 
fashion,  he  did  not  consider  Germany  to  blame.  He 
sighed  to  think  that  "the  Belgian  King  had  so  treacher- 
ously betrayed  his  people  by  abandoning  his  neutrality 


ANTON  LANG  OF  OBERAMMERGAU  105 

and  entering  into  a  secret  agreement  with  France  and 
Great  Britain."  He  recited  the  regular  story  of  the 
secret  military  letters  found  by  the  Germans  after  they 
had  invaded  Belgium,  the  all-important  marginal  notes 
of  which  were  maliciously  left  untranslated  in  the  Ger- 
man Press. 

We  parted  at  Ettal,  and  I  pushed  on  down  the  narrow 
valley  to  Oberammergau.  The  road  ahead  was  now  in 
shadow,  but  behind  me  the  mountain  mass  was  dazzling 
white  in  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun.  "What  a  pity,"  I 
thought,  "that  the  peasant  must  depart  from  these  beau- 
tiful mountains  and  valleys  to  die  in  the  slime  of  the 
trenches." 

The  day  was  closing  in  quiet  and  grandeur,  yet  all 
the  time  the  shadow  of  death  was  darkening  the  peace- 
ful valley  of  the  Ammer.  I  became  aware  of  it  first  as 
I  passed  the  silent  churchyard  with  its  grey  stones  ris- 
ing from  the  snow.  For  there,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  old  stone  wall  that  marks  the  road,  was  a  monument 
on  which  the  Reaper  hacks  the  toll  of  death.  The  list 
for  1870  was  small,  indeed,  compared  with  that  of  die 
grosse  Zeit.  I  looked  for  Lang  and  found  it,  for  Hans 
had  died,  as  had  also  Richard. 

I  passed  groups  of  men  cutting  wood  and  hauling  ice 
and  grading  roads,  men  with  rounder  faces  and  flatter 
noses  than  the  Bavarians,  still  wearing  the  yellowish- 
brown  uniform  of  Russia.  That  is,  most  of  them  wore 
it.  Some,  whose  uniforms  had  long  since  gone  to  tat- 
ters, were  dressed  in  ordinary  clothing,  with  flaming 
red  R's  painted  on  trousers  and  jackets. 

An  old  woman  with  a  heavy  basket  on  her  back  was 
trudging  past  a  group  of  these.  "How  do  you  like 


106     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

them  ?"  I  asked.  "We  shall  really  miss  them  when  they 
go,"  she  said.  "They  seem  part  of  the  village  now. 
The  poor  fellows,  it  must  be  sad  for  them  so  far  from 
home." 

Evidently  the  spirit  of  new  Germany  had  not  satu- 
rated her. 

I  went  through  crooked  streets,  bordered  with  houses 
brightly  frescoed  with  biblical  scenes,  to  the  Pension 
Daheim,  the  home  of  the  man  I  wished  to  see.  As  he 
rose  from  his  pottery  bench  to  welcome  me,  I  felt  that 
beneath  his  great  blue  apron  and  rough  garb  of  the 
working  man  was  true  nobility.  I  did  not  need  to  ask 
if  he  was  Anton  Lang.  I  had  seen  his  picture  and  had 
often  been  told  that  his  face  was  the  image  of  His  Who 
died  on  the  Cross.  I  expected  much,  but  found  in- 
finitely more.  I  felt  that  life  had  been  breathed  into 
a  Rubens  masterpiece.  No  photograph  can  do  him  jus- 
tice, for  no  lens  can  catch  the  wondrous  light  in  his  clear 
blue  eyes. 

I  was  the  only  guest  at  the  Pension  Daheim;  indeed, 
I  was  the  only  stranger  in  Oberammergau.  I  sat  beside 
Anton  Lang  in  his  work  room  as  his  steady  hands  fash- 
ioned things  of  clay,  I  ate  at  table  with  him,  and  in  the 
evening  we  pulled  up  our  chairs  to  the  comfortable  fire- 
side, where  we  talked  of  his  country  and  of  my  country, 
of  the  Passion  Play  and  of  the  war. 

I  had  been  sceptical  about  him  until  I  met  him.  I 
wondered  if  he  was  self-conscious  about  his  goodness, 
or  if  he  was  a  dreamer  who  could  not  get  down  to  the 
realities  of  this  world,  or  if  he  had  been  spoiled  by 
flattery,  or  if  piety  was  part  of  his  profession. 

When  I  finally  went  from  there  I  felt  that  I  really 


ANTON  LANG  OF  OBERAMMERGAU  107 

understood  him.  His  life  has  been  without  an  atom  of 
reproach,  yet  he  never  poses  as  pious.  He  does  not 
preach  or  stand  aloof,  or  try  to  make  you  feel  that  ho 
is  better  than  you,  but  down  in  your  heart  you  know 
that  he  is.  He  has  been  honoured  by  royalty  and  men 
of  state,  yet  he  remains  simple  and  unaffected,  though 
quietly  dignified  in  manner.  He  is  truly  Nature's 
Nobleman,  with  a  mind  that  is  pure  and  a  face  the  mir- 
ror of  his  mind. 

To  play  well  his  role  of  Christus  is  the  dominating 
passion  of  his  life.  Not  the  make-up  box,  but  his  own 
thoughts  must  mould  his  features  for  the  role,  which 
has  been  his  in  1890,  1900  and  1910. 

His  travels  include  journeys  to  Rome  and  to  the  Holy 
Land.  He  is  well  read,  an  interesting  talker,  and  an 
interested  listener.  He  commented  upon  the  great 
change  in  the  spirit  of  the  people,  a  change  from  the 
intoxicating  enthusiasm  of  victory  to  a  war-weary  feel- 
ing of  trying  to  hold  out  through  a  sense  of  duty.  To 
my  question  as  to  when  he  thought  the  war  would  end, 
he  answered :  "When  Great  Britain  and  Germany  both 
realise  that  each  must  make  concessions.  Neither  can 
crush  the  other." 

The  doctrine  that  "only  through  hate  can  the  greatest 
obstacles  in  life  be  overcome"  has  not  reached  his  home, 
nor  was  there  hanging  on  the  wall,  as  in  so  many  Ger- 
man homes,  the  famous  order  of  the  day  of  Crown 
Prince  Rupert  of  Bavaria,  which  commences  with  "Sol- 
diers of  the  army!  Before  you  are  the  English!"  in 
which  he  exhorts  his  troops  with  all  the  tricky  sophistry 
of  hate. 

Anton  Lang  has  worked  long  hard  hours  to  bring  up 


io8     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

his  family,  rather  than  accept  fabulous  offers  for  a 
theatrical  tour  of  America.  He  refused  these  offers 
through  no  mere  caprice. 

"I  admit  that  the  temptation  is  great,"  he  said  to 
me.  "Here  I  must  always  work  hard  and  remain  poor ; 
there  I  quickly  could  have  grown  rich.  But  the  Pas- 
sion Play  is  not  a  business,"  he  continued  earnestly. 
"Nearly  three  hundred  years  ago,  when  a  terrible  plague 
raged  over  the  land,  the  people  of  Oberammergau  vowed 
to  Almighty  God  that  if  He  would  save  their  village, 
they  would  perform  every  ten  years  in  His  glory  the 
Passion  of  His  Divine  Son.  The  village  was  saved  and 
Oberammergau  has  kept  its  promise.  You  see,  if  I  had 
accepted  those  theatrical  offers  I  could  never  again  live 
in  my  native  village,  and  that  would  break  my  heart." 

There  is  carefully  preserved  in  the  town  hall  at 
Oberammergau  an  old  chronicle  which  tells  of  the 
plague.  There  will  undoubtedly  be  preserved  in  the 
family  of  Lang  a  new  chronicle,  a  product  of  the  war, 
printed  in  another  country,  a  chronicle  which  did  not 
rest  content  with  a  notice  of  Anton's  obituary,  but  told 
the  details  of  his  death  in  battle. 

Frau  Lang  showed  me  this  chronicle.  She  seemed  to 
have  something  on  her  mind  of  which  she  wished  to 
speak,  after  I  told  her  that  I  was  an  American  jour- 
nalist. At  length  one  evening,  after  the  three  younger 
children  had  gone  to  bed,  and  the  eldest  was  indus- 
triously studying  his  lessons  for  the  next  day,  she  ven- 
tured. "American  newspapers  tell  stories  which  are 
not  at  all  true,  don't  they  ?"  she  half  stated,  half  asked. 

My  natural  inclination  was  to  defend  American  jour- 
nalism by  attacking  that  of  Germany,  but  something  re- 


ANTON  LANG  OF  OBERAMMERGAU  109 

strained  me,  I  did  not  know  what.  "Of  course,"  I  ex- 
plained, "in  a  country  such  as  ours  where  the  Press  is 
free,  evils  sometimes  arise.  We  have  all  kinds  of  news- 
papers. A  few  are  very  yellow,  but  the  vast  majority 
seek  to  be  accurate,  for  accuracy  pays  in  the  long  run 
in  self-respecting  journalism."  I  thought  that  perhaps 
she  was  referring  to  the  announcement  of  the  death  of 
the  man  who  was  sitting  with  us  in  the  room.  We  both 
agreed,  however,  that  such  a  mistake  was  perfectly  natu- 
ral since  two  Langs  of  Oberammergau  had  already  been 
killed.  In  fact,  Anton  had  read  of  his  own  death  notice 
in  a  Munich  paper.  The  American  correspondent  who 
had  cabled  the  news  on  two  occasions  had  presumably 
simply  "lifted"  the  announcement  from  the  German 
papers.  Frau  Lang  could  understand  that  very  well 
when  I  explained,  but  how  about  the  stories  that  Anton 
had  been  serving  a  machine-gun  and  other  details  which 
were  pure  fiction? 

She  had  trump  cards  which  she  played  at  tfiis  point. 
Two  gaudily  coloured  "Sunday  Supplements"  of  a  cer- 
tain newspaper  combination  in  the  United  States  were 
spread  before  me.  The  first  told  of  how  Anton  Lang 
had  become  a  machine-gunner  of  marked  ability,  and 
that  he  served  his  deadly  weapon  with  determination. 
Could  the  Oberammergau  Passion  Play  ever  exert  the 
old  influence  again,  after  this  ?  was  the  query  at  the  end 
of  the  article. 

A  second  had  all  the  details  of  Anton's  death  and  was 
profusely  illustrated.  The  story  started  with  Anton 
going  years  ago  into  the  mountains  to  try  out  his  voice 
in  order  to  develop  it  for  his  histrionic  task.  There 
was  a  brief  account  of  how  he  had  followed  in  the  path 


of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  of  the  tremendous  effect  he 
had  upon  his  audiences. 

Then  came  the  war,  which  tore  him  from  his  humble 
home.  The  battle  raged,  the  Bavarians  charged  the 
French  lines,  and  the  spot-light  of  the  story  was  played 
upon  a  soldier  from  Oberammergau  who  lay  wounded 
in  "No-Man's  Land."  Another  charging  wave  swept 
by  this  soldier,  and  as  he  looked  up  he  saw  the  face  of 
the  man  he  had  respected  and  loved  more  than  all  other 
men,  the  face  of  Anton  Lang,  the  Christus  of  Oberam- 
mergau. The  soldier  covered  his  eyes  with  his  hands, 
for  never  had  Anton  Lang  looked  as  he  did  then.  The 
eyes  which  had  always  been  so  beautiful,  so  compas- 
sionate, had  murder  in  them  now. 

The  scene  shifted.  A  French  sergeant  and  private 
crouched  by  their  machine-gun  ready  to  repel  the  charge, 
the  mutual  relationship  being  apparently  somewhat  that 
of  a  plumber  and  his  assistant.  They  sprayed  the  on- 
coming Bavarians  with  a  shower  of  steel  and  piled  the 
dead  high  outside  the  French  trenches.  The  charge  had 
failed,  and  the  sergeant  began  to  act  strangely.  At 
length  he  broke  the  silence.  "Did  you  see  that  last 
l)ochef  Jean  ?"  he  asked.  "Did  you  see  that  face  ?"  Jean 
confessed  that  he  did  not.  "You  are  fortunate,  Jean," 
said  the  sergeant.  "Never  have  I  seen  such  a  face  be- 
fore. I  felt  as  if  there  was  something  supernatural 
about  it  I  felt  that  it  was  wrong  to  kill  that  man.  I 
hated  to  do  it,  Jean. — But  then  the  butcher  was  coming 
at  us  with  a  knife  two  feet  long." 

I  finished  reading  and  looked  up  at  the  questioning 
eyes  of  Frau  Lang  and  at  the  wonderful,  indescribable 
blue  eyes  of  the  "butcher"  across  the  table,  who,  I  may 


ANTON  LANG  OF  OBERAMMERGAU  1 1 1 

add,  is  fifty-two  years  of  age,  and  has  not  had  a  day's 
military  training  in  his  life. 

"And  look,"  said  Frau  Lang,  "these  men  are  not  even 
Oberammergauers." 

She  pointed  to  one  of  the  illustrations  which  de- 
picted a  small  group  of  rather  vicious-looking  Prus- 
sians, with  rifles  ready  peering  over  the  rim  of  a  trench. 
The  picture  was  labelled  "Four  apostles  now  serving  at 
the  Front." 

"And  see,"  continued  the  perplexed  woman,  "there  is 
Johann  Zwinck,  the  Judas  in  the  play.  It  says  that  he 
is  at  the  front.  Why,  he  is  sixty-nine  years  old,  and  is 
still  the  village  painter.  Only  yesterday  I  heard  him 
complain  that  the  war  was  making  it  difficult  for  him 
to  get  sufficient  oil  to  mix  his  paint." 

I  was  at  a  loss  for  words.  "When  one  compares  such 
terrible  untruths  with  our  German  White  Book,"  de- 
clared Frau  Lang,  "it  is  indeed  difficult  for  the  Ameri- 
can people  to  understand  the  true  situation." 

I  felt  that  it  would  be  useless  for  me  at  that  moment 
to  explain  certain  very  important  omissions  in  the  Ger- 
man  White  Book.  Anything  would  look  white  in  com' 
parison  with  the  yellow  journal  I  had  just  read.  But 
I  knew,  and  tried  to  explain  that  the  particular  news- 
paper combination  which  printed  such  rubbish  was  well 
known  in  America  for  its  inaccuracies  and  fabrications, 
and  although  it  was  pro-German,  it  would  sacrifice  any- 
thing for  sensation.  But  the  good  woman,  being  a  Ger- 
man, and  consequently  accustomed  to  standardisation^ 
could  not  dissociate  this  newspaper  from  the  real  Press. 


CHAPTER  X 

SUBMARINE  MOTIVES 

THE  German  submarines  are  standardised.  The 
draughts  and  blue  prints  of  the  most  important 
machinery  are  multiplied  and  sent,  if  necessary,  to 
twenty  different  factories,  while  all  the  minor  stamp- 
ings are  produced  at  one  or  other  main  factory.  The 
"assembling"  of  the  submarines,  therefore,  is  not  diffi- 
cult. During  the  war  submarine  parts  have  been  as- 
sembled at  Trieste,  Zeebrugge,  Kiel,  Bremerhaven,  Stet- 
tin, and  half  a  dozen  other  places  in  Germany  unneces- 
sary to  relate.  With  commendable  foresight,  Germany 
sent  submarine  parts  packed  as  machinery  to  South 
America,  where  they  are  being  assembled  somewhere  on 
the  west  coast. 

The  improvement,  enlargement,  and  simplification 
of  the  submarine  has  progressed  with  great  rapidity. 

When  I  was  in  England  after  a  former  visit  to  Ger- 
many I  met  a  number  of  seafolk  who  pooh-poohed  ex- 
tensive future  submarining,  by  saying  that,  no  matter 
how  many  submarines  the  Germans  might  be  able  to 
produce,  the  training  of  submarine  officers  and  crew 
was  such  a  difficult  task  that  the  "submarine  menace," 
as  it  was  then  called  in  England,  need  not  be  taken  too 
seriously. 

The  difficulty  is  not  so  great.  German  submarine 
officers  and  men  are  trained  by  the  simple  process  of 

112 


SUBMARINE  MOTIVES  113 

double  or  treble  banking  of  the  crews  of  submarines  on 
more  or  less  active  service.  Submarine  crews  are  there- 
fore multiplied  probably  a  great  deal  faster  than  the 
war  destroys  them.  These  double  or  treble  crews,  who 
rarely  go  far  away  from  German  waters,  and  are  mostly 
trained  in  the  safe  Baltic,  are  generally  composed  of 
young  but  experienced  seamen.  There  are,  however, 
an  increasing  number  of  cases  of  soldiers  being  trans- 
ferred abruptly  to  the  U-boat  service. 

The  education  of  submarine  officers  and  crew  begins 
in  thorough  German  fashion  on  land  or  in  docks,  in 
dummy  or  disused  submarines,  accompanied  by  much 
lecture  work  and  drill.  Submarine  life  is  not  so  un- 
comfortable as  we  think.  With  the  exception  of  the 
deprivation  of  his  beer,  which  is  not  allowed  in  sub- 
marines, or,  indeed,  any  form  of  alcohol,  except  a  small 
quantity  of  brandy,  which  is  kept  under  the  captain's 
lock  and  key,  Hans  in  his  submarine  is  quite  as  com- 
fortable as  Johann  in  his  destroyer. 

Extra  comforts  are  forwarded  to  submarine  men, 
which  consist  of  gramophone  records  (mostly  Viennese 
waltzes),  chocolate,  sausages,  smoked  eels,  margarine, 
cigars,  cigarettes,  and  tobacco,  a  small  and  treasured 
quantity  of  real  coffee,  jam,  marmalade,  and  sugar.  All 
these,  I  was  proudly  told,  were  extras.  There  is  no 
shortage  in  the  German  Navy. 

I  learned  nothing  of  value  about  the  largest  German 
submarines,  except  that  everybody  in  Germany  knew 
they  were  being  built,  and  by  the  time  the  gossip  of 
them  reached  Berlin  the  impression  there  was  that  they 
were  at  least  as  large  as  Atlantic  liners. 

Now  as  to  German  submarine  policies.     The  part 


1 14     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

that  has  to  do  with  winning  the  war  will  be  dealt  with 
in  the  next  chapter.  But  there  is  also  a  definite  policy 
in  connection  with  the  use  of  submarines  for  winning 
the  "war  after  the  war." 

The  National  Liberal  Party,  of  which  Tirpitz  is  the 
god,  is  at  the  head  of  the  vast,  gradually  solidifying 
mammoth  trust,  which  embraces  Krupps,  the  mines, 
shipbuilding  yards,  and  the  manufactures.  Now  and 
then  a  little  of  its  growth  leaks  out,  such  as  the  linking 
up  of  Krupps  with  the  new  shipbuilding. 

The  scheme  is  brutally  simple  and  is  going  on  under 
the  eyes  of  the  British  every  day.  These  people  be- 
lieve that  by  building  ships  themselves  and  destroying 
enemy  and  neutral  shipping,  they  will  be  the  world's 
shipping  masters  at  the  termination  of  the  war. .  In 
their  attitude  towards  Norwegian  shipping,  you  will 
notice  that  they  make  the  flimsiest  excuse  for  the  de- 
struction of  as  much  tonnage  as  they  can  sink.  It  was 
confidently  stated  to  me  by  a  member  of  the  National 
Liberal  Party,  and  by  no  means  an  unimportant  one, 
that  Germany  is  building  ships  as  rapidly  as  she  is  sink- 
ing them.  That  I  do  not  believe ;  but  that  a  great  part 
of  her  effort  is  devoted  to  the  construction  of  mercan- 
tile vessels  I  ascertained  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt. 

I  have  met  people  in  England  who  refuse  to  believe 
that  Germany,  battling  on  long  lines  east  and  west,  and 
constructing  with  feverish  haste  war  vessels  of  every 
description,  can  find  sufficient  surplus  energy  to  build 
ships  which  will  not  be  of  the  slightest  use  until  after 
the  war  is  finished.  I  can  only  say  that  I  personally 
have  seen  the  recently  completed  Hamburg-America 
liners  Cap  Polonio  and  Cap  Finisterre  anchored  in  the 


SUBMARINE  MOTIVES  115 

Elbe  off  Altona.  They  are  beautiful  boats  of  20,000 
and  16,000  tons,  a  credit  to  the  German  shipbuilding 
industry,  which  has  made  such  phenomenal  strides  in 
recent  years.  At  Stettin  I  passed  almost  under  the 
stern  of  the  brand  new  21,000  ton  Hamburg-South 
America  liner,  Tirpitz — which  for  obvious  business 
reasons  may  be  re-named  after  the  war. 

Both  at  Hamburg  and  Liibeck,  where  the  rattle  of 
the  pneumatic  riveter  was  as  incessant  as  in  any  Ameri- 
can city  in  course  of  construction,  I  was  amazed  at  the 
number  of  vessels  of  five  or  six  thousand  tons  which  I 
saw  being  built.  Furthermore,  the  giant  North  German 
Lloyd  liner,  Hindenburg,  is  nearing  completion,  while 
the  Bismarck,  of  the  Hamburg-America  Line  will  be 
ready  for  her  maiden  trip  in  the  early  days  of  peace. 

Another  part  of  the  National  Liberals'  policy  is  the 
keeping  alive  of  all  German  businesses,  banks  and 
others,  in  enemy  countries.  Some  people  in  England 
seem  to  think  that  the  Germans  are  anxious  to  keep 
these  businesses  alive  in  order  to  make  money.  Many 
Germans  regard  John  Bull  as  extremely  simple,  but  not 
so  simple  as  to  allow  them  to  do  that.  So  long  as  the 
businesses  are  kept  going  until  after  the  war,  when  they 
can  again  start  out  with  redoubled  energy,  the  Germans 
desire  nothing  more.  The  Deutsche  Bank,  for  example, 
which  bears  no  comparison  to  an  English  or  American 
bank,  but  which  is  an  institution  for  promoting  both 
political  and  industrial  enterprise,  is  entrenched  be- 
hind so  powerful  an  Anglo-German  backing  in  London, 
I  was  informed  on  many  occasions,  that  the  British  Gov- 
ernment dare  not  close  it  down.  The  mixture  of  spying 
and  propaganda  with  banking,  with  export,  with  manu- 


1 1 6     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

^0 

f acture,  seems  so  foreign  to  Anglo-Saxon  ways  as  to  be 
almost  inconceivable. 

Coincident  with  the  destruction  of  foreign  shipping, 
and  the  maintenance  of  their  businesses  in  enemy  coun- 
tries (England  and  Italy  especially)  is  the  exploita- 
tion of  the  coal  and  other  mines,  oil  wells,  and  forests 
in  occupied  enemy  territory.  The  French  and  Belgian 
coalfields  are  being  worked  to  the  utmost,  together  with 
the  iron  mines  at  Longwy  and  Brieux.  Poland  is  being 
deforested  to  such  an  extent  that  the  climate  is  actually 
altering. 

It  is  a  vast  and  definite  scheme,  with  such  able  lead- 
ers as  Herr  Bassermann,  the  real  leader  of  the  National 
Liberal  Party,  Herr  Stresemann,  and  Herr  Hirsch,  of 
Essen.  "We  have  powerful  friends,  not  only  in  Lon- 
don, Milan,  Rome,  Madrid,  New  York,  and  Montreal, 
but  throughout  the  whole  of  South  America,  and  every- 
where except  in  Australia  where  that  verdammter 
Hooges  (Hughes)  played  into  the  hands  of  our  feeble, 
so-called  leader,  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  by  warning  the 
people  that  the  British  people  would  follow  Hughes' 
lead." 

So  much  for  the  commercial  part  of  submarining. 

U-boating  close  to  England  has  long  ceased  to  be  a 
popular  amusement  with  the  German  submarine  flotilla, 
who  have  a  thoroughly  healthy  appreciation  of  the  vari- 
ous devices  by  which  so  many  of  them  have  been  de- 
stroyed. The  National  Liberals  believe  that  the  British 
will  not  be  able  to  tackle  long-distance  submarines  oper- 
ating in  the  Atlantic  and  elsewhere.  Their  radius  of 
action  is  undoubtedly  increasing  almost  month  by 
month.  From  remarks  made  to  me  I  do  not  believe  that 


SUBMARINE  MOTIVES  117 

these  submarines  have  many  land  bases  at  great  dis- 
tances— certainly  none  in  the  United  States.  They  may 
have  floating  bases;  but  this  I  do  know — that  their 
petrol-carrying  capacity  altogether  exceeds  that  of  any 
earlier  type  of  submarine,  and  that  their  surface  speed, 
at  any  rate  in  official  tests,  runs  up  to  nearly  20  knots. 

The  trip  of  the  Deuischland  was  not  only  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  a  few  tons  of  nickel  and  rubber, 
but  for  thoroughly  testing  the  new  engines  (designed 
by  Maybach),  for  bringing  back  a  hundred  reports  of 
the  effects  of  submersion  in  such  cold  waters  as  are  to 
be  found  off  the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  for  ascertain- 
ing how  many  days'  submerged  or  surface  travelling  is 
likely  to  be  experienced,  and,  indeed,  for  making  such 
a  trial  trip  across  the  Atlantic  and  back  as  was  usual 
in  the  early  days  of  steamships. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  VULTURE 

AN  enthusiastic,  war-mad  crowd  had  gathered  about 
an  impromptu  speaker  in  the  Ringstrasse,  not  far 
from  the  Hotel  Bristol,  in  Vienna,  one  pleasant  August 
evening  in  1914.  His  theme  was  the  military  prowess 
of  Austria-Hungary  and  Germany. 

"And  now,"  he  concluded,  "Japan  has  treacherously 
joined  our  enemies.  Yet  we  should  not  be  disturbed, 
for  her  entrance  will  but  serve  to  bring  us  another  ally 
too.  You  all  know  of  the  ill-feeling  between  the  United 
States  and  Japan.  At  any  moment  we  may  hear  that 
the  great  Republic  has  declared  war."  He  called  for 
cheers,  and  the  Ringstrasse  echoed  with  Hoch!  Hoch! 
Hoch !  for  the  United  States  of  America. 

That  was.  my  introduction  to  European  opinion  of 
my  country  during  the  war.  During  my  four  weeks  in 
the  Austro-Serbian  zone  of  hostilities,  I  had  heard  no 
mention  of  anything  but  the  purely  military  business 
at  hand. 

The  following  evening  from  the  window  of  an  "Amer- 
ican-Tourist-Special  Train"  I  looked  down  on  the  happy 
Austrians  who  jammed  the  platform,  determined  to  give 
the  Americans  a  grand  send-off,  which  they  did  with 
flag-waving  and  cheers.  A  stranger  on  the  platform 
thrust  a  lengthy  typewritten  document  into  my  hands, 
with  the  urgent  request  that  I  should  give  it  to  the  Press 

n8 


THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  VULTURE   119 

in  New  York.  It  was  a  stirring  appeal  to  Americans 
to  "witness  the  righteousness  of  the  cause  of  the  Central 
Powers  in  this  war  which  had  been  forced  upon  them." 
Three  prominent  citizens  of  Vienna  had  signed  it,  one 
of  whom  was  the  famous  Doctor  Lorenz. 

Berlin,  in  an  ecstasy  of  joyful  anticipation  of  the 
rapid  and  triumphal  entrance  into  Paris,  was  a  repeti- 
tion of  Vienna.  True,  in  the  beginning,  Americans, 
mistaken  for  Englishmen  by  some  of  the  undiscerning, 
had  been  roughly  treated,  but  a  hint  from  those  in  high 
authority  changed  that.  In  like  manner,  well-meaning 
patriots  who  persisted  in  indiscriminately  mobbing  all 
members  of  the  yellow  race  were  urged  to  differentiate 
between  Chinese  and  Japanese. 

So  I  found  festive  Berlin  patting  Americans  on  the 
back,  cheering  Americans  in  German-American  meet- 
ings, and  prettily  intertwining  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
and  the  German  flag. 

"Now  is  your  opportunity  to  take  Canada,"  said  the 
man  in  the  street.  In  fact,  it  was  utterly  incomprehen- 
sible to  the  average  German  that  we  should  not  indulge 
in  some  neighbouring  land-grabbing  while  Britain  was 
so  busy  with  affairs  in  Europe. 

The  German  Foreign  Office  was,  of  course,  under  no 
such  delusion,  although  it  had  cherished  the  equally  ab- 
surd belief  that  England's  colonies  would  rebel  at  the 
first  opportunity.  The  Wilhelmstrasse  was,  however, 
hard  at  work  taking  the  propaganda  which  it  had  so 
successfully  crammed  down  the  throats  of  the  German 
citizen  and  translating  it  into  English  to  be  crammed 
down  the  throats  of  the  people  in  America.  This  wa3 
simply  one  of  the  Wilhelmstrasse's  numerous  mistakes 


120    THE  IAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 


THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  \TLTCBE 


"1?'7^ 

30,000  tOled,  40,000 


of  AH 

ft»  prt  Ac  eatxre 


fzlI-T  eieetriScd  ::.-  utka  oh  £ 


j»*  —  -*.    \_,^,-  ~.  —  . 
1       .  ^  .      .*:*>-.      •  :  *  .  .      ...      ."      .  ; 

M  .—  J    __    i* 

_~  ___       >       _ 

oftfeptopfe 
of  ftibnoonr  4lk  191$, 

«wt  of 
Fated 


M  exvtr  tune  tber  yfcfc  «f 


star* 


1 22     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

edly.  Their  belief  that  they  could  starve  England  was 
absolute.  What  could  be  simpler  than  putting  a  ring 
of  U-boats  round  the  British  Isles  and  cutting  off  all 
trade  until  the  pangs  of  hunger  should  compel  Britain 
to  yield  ?  I  heard  no  talk  then  about  the  "base  crime 
of  starving  women  and  children,"  which  became  their 
whine  a  year  later  when  the  knife  began  to  cut  the  other 
way. 

In  1915  it  was  immaterial  to  the  mass  of  Germans 
whether  America  joined  their  enemies  or  not.  Their 
training  had  led  them  to  think  in  army  corps,  and  they 
frankly  and  sneeringly  asked  us,  "What  could  you  do  ?" 
They  were  still  in  the  stage  where  they  freely  applied  to 
enemies  and  possible  enemies  the  expression,  "They  are 
afraid  of  us."  "The  more  enemies,  the  more  glory," 
was  the  inane  motto  so  popular  early  in  the  war  that  it 
was  even  printed  on  post  cards. 

The  Gulflight,  flying  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  was  tor- 
pedoed in  the  reign  of  submarine  anarchy  immediately 
inaugurated.  But  two  can  play  most  games,  and  when 
the  British  Navy  made  it  increasingly  difficult  for  U- 
boats  to  operate  in  the  waters  near  the  British  Isles,  the 
German  Foreign  Office  and  the  German  Admiralty  be- 
gan to  entertain  divergent  opinions  concerning  the  ad- 
visability of  pushing  the  submarine  campaign  to  a  point 
which  would  drag  the  United  States  into  the  war. 

Only  a  few  people  in  Germany  know  that  von  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg  strenuously  opposed  the  plan  to  sink  the 
Lusitania.  That  is,  he  opposed  it  up  to  a  point.  The 
advertisement  from  the  German  Embassy  at  Washing- 
ton which  appeared  in  American  newspapers  warning 
Americans  could  not  have  appeared  without  his  sane- 


THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  VULTURE   123 

tion.  In  the  last  days  of  July,  1914,  backed  by  the 
Kaiser,  he  had  opposed  the  mobilisation  order  sufficient 
to  cause  a  three  days'  delay — which  his  military  op- 
ponents in  German  politics  claim  was  the  chief  cause 
of  the  failure  to  take  Paris — but  in  the  case  of  the  Lusi- 
tania  he  was  even  more  powerless  against  rampant  mili- 
tarism. 

For  nearly  a  year  after  the  colossal  blunder  of  the 
Lusitania  there  existed  in  the  deep  undercurrents  of 
German  politics  a  most  remarkable  whirlpool  of  dis- 
cord, in  which  the  policy  of  von  Tirpitz  was  a  severe 
tax  on  the  patience  of  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  and  the 
Foreign  Office,  for  it  was  they  who  had  to  invent  all 
sorts  of  plausible  excuses  to  placate  various  neutral 
Powers. 

The  Kaiser  after  disastrously  meddling  with  the  Gen- 
eral Staff  during  the  first  month  of  the  war,  subse- 
quently took  no  active  hand  in  military,  naval  and  po- 
litical policies  unless  conflicts  between  his  chosen  chief- 
tains forced  him  to  do  so. 

One  striking  instance  of  this  occurred  when  the 
Wilhelmstrasse  discovered  that  Washington  was  in  pos- 
session of  information  in  the  "Arabic  incident"  which 
made  the  official  excuses  palpably  too  thin.  After  the 
German  authorities  became  convinced  that  their  failure 
to  guarantee  that  unresisting  merchantmen  would  not 
be  sunk  until  passengers  and  crew  were  removed  to  a 
place  of  safety  would  cause  a  break  with  the  United 
States,  Tirpitz  asserted  that  the  disadvantages  to  Ger- 
many from  America  as  an  enemy  would  be  slight  in 
comparison  with  the  advantages  from  the  relentless  sub- 
marining which  in  his  opinion  would  defeat  Britain. 


1 24     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

He  therefore  advocated  that  no  concessions  be  made  to 
Washington.  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  was  of  the  op- 
posite opinion.  A  deadlock  resulted,  which  was  broken 
when  the  Kaiser  summoned  both  men  to  separate  and 
secret  conferences.  He  decided  in  favour  of  the  Chan- 
cellor, whereupon  Washington  received  the  famous 
"Arabic  Guarantees."  It  is  highly  significant  that 
these  were  never  made  known  to  the  German  people. 

Then  followed  six  months  of  "frightfulness,"  broken 
pledges,  notes,  crises,  semi-crises,  and  finally  the  great 
crisis  de  luxe  in  the  case  of  the  Sussex.  When,  a  few 
days  after  my  return  to  England  from  Germany,  I  used 
the  expression  "Sussex  Crisis"  to  a  leading  Englishman, 
he  expressed  surprise  at  the  term  "crisis."  "We  did  not 
get  the  impression  in  England  that  the  affair  was  a  real 
crisis,"  he  said. 

My  experiences  in  Germany  during  the  last  week  in 
April  and  the  first  four  days  in  May,  1916,  left  no 
doubt  in  my  mind  that  I  was  living  through  a  crisis,  the 
outcome  of  which  would  have  a  tremendous  effect  upon 
the  subsequent  course  of  the  war.  Previous  dealings 
with  Washington  had  convinced  the  German  Govern- 
ment as  well  as  the  German  people  that  the  American 
Government  would  stand  for  anything.  Thus  the  ex- 
traordinary explanation  of  the  German  Foreign  Office 
that  the  Sussex  was  not  torpedoed  by  a  German  subma- 
rine, since  the  only  U-boat  commander  who  had  fired  a 
torpedo  in  the  channel  waters  on  the  fateful  day  had 
made  a  sketch  of  the  vessel  which  he  had  attacked, 
which,  according  to  the  sketch,  was  not  the  Sussex. 

The  German  people  were  so  supremely  satisfied  with 
this  explanation  that  they  displayed  chagrin  which 


THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  VULTURE    125 

quickly  changed  to  ugliness  when  the  German  Press  was 
allowed  to  print  enough  of  the  news  from  Washington 
to  prepare  the  public  mind  for  something  sharp  from 
across  the  Atlantic.  I  have  seen  Berlin  joyful,  serious, 
and  sad  during  the  war;  I  have  seen  it  on  many  mem- 
orable days ;  but  never  have  I  seen  it  exactly  as  on  Sat- 
urday, April  22nd,  the  day  when  the  Sussex  Ultimatum 
was  made  known  through  the  Press.  The  news  was 
headlined  in  the  afternoon  editions.  The  eager  crowds 
snapped  them  up,  stood  still  in  their  tracks,  and  then 
one  and  all  expressed  their  amazement  to  anybody  near 
them.  "President  Wilson  began  by  shaking  his  fist  at 
Germany,  and  ended  by  shaking  his  finger,"  was  the 
way  one  of  the  President's  political  opponents  sum- 
marised his  Notes.  That  was  the  opinion  in  Germany. 
And  now  he  had  "pulled  a  gun."  The  Germans  could 
not  understand  it.  When  they  encountered  any  of  the 
few  Americans  left  in  their  country  they  either  foamed 
in  rage  at  them,  or,  in  blank  amazement,  asked  them 
what  it  was  all  about. 

t  It  was  extremely  interesting  to  the  student  of  the 
war  to  see  that  the  people  really  did  not  understand 
what  it  was  all  about.  Theodor  Wolff,  the  brilliant  edi- 
tor of  the  Berliner  Tageblati,  with  great  daring  for  a 
German  editor,  raised  this  point  in  the  edition  in  which 
the  Ultimatum  was  printed.  He  asserted  that  the  Ger- 
man people  did  not  understand  the  case  because  they 
purposely  had  been  left  in  the  dark  by  the  Government. 
He  said,  among  other  things,  that  his  countrymen  were 
in  no  position  to  understand  the  feeling  of  resentment 
in  the  United  States,  because  the  meagre  reports  per- 
mitted in  the  German  Press  never  described  such  de- 


1 26     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

tails  as  the  death  agonies  of  women  and  children  strug- 
gling helplessly  in  the  water. 

This  article  in  the  Tageblatt  was  the  striking  excep- 
tion to  the  rest  of  the  Press  comment  throughout  Ger- 
many, for  the  German  Government  made  one  of  its 
typical  moves  at  this  point.  "To  climb  down  or  not  to 
climb  down/'  was  a  question  which  would  take  several 
days  to  decide.  Public  opinion  was  already  sufficiently 
enraged  against  America  to  give  the  Government  united 
support  in  case  of  a  break,  but  it  must  be  made  more 
enraged  and  consequently  more  united.  Thus  on  Easter 
Sunday  the  full  current  of  hate  was  turned  on  in  the 
German  Press.  President  Wilson  was  violently  at- 
tacked for  working  in  the  interest  of  the  Allies,  whom 
he  wished  to  save.  Germany  would  not  bow  to  this  in- 
justice, she  would  fight,  and  America,  too,  would  be 
made  to  feel  what  it  means  to  go  to  war  with  Germany. 
The  German  Press  did  its  part  to  inflame  a  united 
German  sentiment,  and  the  Foreign  Office,  which  be- 
lieves in  playing  the  game  both  ways  when  it  is  of  ad- 
vantage to  do  so,  with  characteristic  thoroughness  did 
not  permit  the  American  correspondents  to  cable  to  their 
papers  the  virulent  lies,  such  as  those  in  the  Tdgliche 
Rundschau,  about  the  affair  in  general  and  President 
Wilson  in  particular.  These  papers  were  furthermore 
not  allowed  to  leave  Germany. 

On  the  evening  preceding  the  publication  of  the  Ul- 
timatum, Maximilian  Harden's  most  famous  number  of 
the  Zukunft  appeared  with  the  title  "If  I  Were  Wil- 
son." On  Saturday  morning  it  was  advertised  on  yel- 
low and  black  posters  throughout  Berlin,  and  was 
qui-ckly  bought  by  a  feverish  public  to  whom  anything 


THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  VULTURE   127 

pertaining  to  German-American  relations  was  of  the 
sharpest  interest.  The  remarkable  article  was  directly 
at  variance  with  all  the  manufactured  ideas  which  had 
been  storming  in  German  brains  for  more  than  a  year. 
The  British  sea  policy  was  represented  in  a  light  quite 
different  from  the  officially  incubated  German  concep- 
tion of  it.  President  Wilson  was  correctly  portrayed  as 
strictly  neutral  in  all  his  official  acts.  This  staggered 
Harden's  readers  quite  as  much  as  his  attacks  on  the 
brutal  submarine  policy  of  his  country. 

A  careless  censor  had  allowed  "If  I  Were  Wilson,"  to 
appear.  But  a  vigilant  Government,  ever  watchful  of 
the  food  for  the  minds  of  its  children,  hastened  with  the 
usual  police  methods  to  correct  the  mistake.  The  Zu- 
kunft  was  beschlagnahmt,  which  means  that  the  police 
hastily  gathered  up  all  unsold  copies  at  the  publishers, 
kiosks,  and  wherever  else  they  were  to  be  found.  If  a 
policeman  saw  one  in  a  man's  pocket  he  took  it  away. 

Why  did  the  Government  do  everything  in  its  power 
to  suppress  this  article  ?  The  Government  fully  under- 
stood that  there  was  nothing  in  it  that  was  not  true, 
nothing  in  it  of  a  revolutionary  character.  It  divulged 
no  military  or  naval  secrets.  It  was  a  simple  statement 
of  political  truths.  But  the  German  great  Idea  Fac- 
tory in  the  Wilhelmstrasse  does  not  judge  printed  mat- 
ter from  its  truth  or  falsity.  The  forming  of  the  public 
mind  in  the  mould  in  which  it  will  best  serve  the  in- 
terests of  the  State  is  the  sole  consideration.  While  the 
Directors  of  Thought  were  deliberating  on  the  relative 
disadvantages  of  a  curtailment  of  submarine  activity 
and  America  as  an  enemy,  and  the  order  of  the  day  was 
to  instill  hatred,  no  matter  how,  they  decided  that  it 


1 2  8     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

•would  be  inadvisable  for  the  people  to  read  the  true 
statements  of  Harden. 

One  American  correspondent  began  to  cable  five 
thousand  words  of  "If  I  Were  Wilson"  to  his  paper. 
The  Censor  stopped  him  after  he  had  sent  thirteen  hun- 
dred. A  rival  correspondent,  when  he  glanced  at  the 
article  immediately  after  it  had  appeared,  decided  that 
it  was  more  suitable  for  mail  matter  than  cable  matter, 
put  it  in  an  envelope,  and  actually  scored  a  scoop  over 
all  opponents. 

During  the  following  days,  when  the  leaders  of  Ger- 
many were  in  conference  at  the  Headquarters  of  the 
General  Staff,  I  travelled  as  much  as  possible  to  find 
out  German  sentiment.  The  people  were  intoxicated 
with  the  successes  against  Verdun,  and  were  angrily  in 
favour  of  a  break.  One  German  editor  said  to  me, 
"The  Government  has  educated  them  to  believe  that  the 
U-boat  can  win  the  war.  Their  belief  is  so  firm  that 
it  will  be  difficult  for  the  authorities  to  explain  a  back- 
down to  Wilson." 

It  was  not.  The  Government  can  explain  anything 
to  the  German  people.  The  back-down  came,  causing 
sentiments  which  can  be  divided  into  three  groups. 
One,  "We  were  very  good  to  give  in  to  America.  Eng- 
land would  not  be  so  good."  Two,  "Americans  put  us 
in  a  bad  position.  To  curtail  our  submarine  weapon 
means  a  lengthening  of  the  war.  On  the  other  hand,  to 
add  America  to  the  list  of  our  enemies  would  lengthen 
the  war  still  more."  Three,  "We  shall  wait  our  oppor- 
tunity and  pay  back  America  for  what  she  has  done 
to  us."  I  heard  the  latter  expression  everywhere,  par- 
ticularly among  the  upper  classes.  It  was  the  expres- 


THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  VULTURE    129 

sion  of  Doctor  Drechsler,  head  of  the  Amerika-Institut 
in  Berlin,  and  one  of  the  powerful  propaganda  trium- 
virate composed  of  himself,  Doctor  Bertling,  and  the 
late  Professor  Miinsterberg. 

With  the  increasing  deterioration  inside  the  German 
Empire  the  resolve  of  the  Chancellor  to  avoid  a  clash 
with  the  United  States  strengthened  daily.  His  op- 
ponents, however,  most  of  the  great  Agrarians  and  Na- 
tional Liberals,  the  men  behind  Tirpitz,  continue  to 
work  for  a  new  submarine  campaign  in  which  all  neu- 
trals will  be  warned  that  their  vessels  will  be  sunk 
without  notice  if  bound  to  or  from  the  ports  of  Ger- 
many's enemies.  They  are  practical  men,  who  believe 
that  only  through  the  unrestricted  use  of  the  submarine 
can  Britain,  whom  they  call  the  keystone  of  the  oppo- 
sition, be  beaten.  The  Chancellor  is  also  a  practical 
man,  who  believes  that  the  entrance  of  America  on  the 
side  of  the  Entente  would  seal  the  fate  of  Germany. 
He  is  supported  by  Herr  Helfferich,  the  Vice-Chancel- 
lor, and  Herr  Zimmermann,  the  Foreign  Secretary,  men 
with  a  deep  insight  into  the  questions  of  trade  and 
treaties.  They  believe  that  peace  will  be  made  across 
the  table  and  not  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  and  they 
realise  that  it  is  much  better  for  Germany  not  to  have 
the  United  States  at  the  table  as  an  enemy. 

In  September,  1916,  the  Chancellor  began  to  lay  the 
wires  for  a  new  campaign,  a  campaign  to  enlist  the  ser- 
vices of  Uncle  Sam  in  a  move  for  peace.  It  is  signifi- 
cant, however,  that  he  and  his  Government  continue  to 
play  the  game  both  ways.  While  Germany  presses  her 
official  friendship  on  the  United  States,  and  conducts 
propaganda  there  to  bring  the  two  nations  closer  to- 


1 30     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

gether,  she  at  the  same  time  keeps  up  the  propaganda 
of  hate  at  home  against  America,  in  order  to  have  the 
support  of  the  people  in  case  of  emergency. 

The  attacks  against  Washington  in  the  Continental 
Times  show  which  way  the  wind  blows,  for  this  paper 
is  subsidised  by  the  German  Foreign  Office  through  the 
simple  device  of  buying  30,000  copies  of  each  issue — 
it  appears  three  times  weekly — at  Si/oeZ.  per  copy.  The 
editors  are  Aubrey  Stanhope,  an  Englishman  who  even 
before  the  war  could  not  return  to  his  native  country 
for  reasons  of  his  own,  and  R.  L.  Orchelle,  whose  real 
name  is  Hermann  Scheffauer,  who  claims  to  be  an 
American,  but  is  not  known  as  such  at  the.  American 
Embassy  in  Berlin.  He  has  specialised  in  attacks 
against  Great  Britain  in  the  United  States.  Some  of 
the  vicious  onslaughts  against  Washington  in  Germany 
were  made  by  him. 

American  flags  are  scarce  in  Berlin  to-day,  but  one 
always  waves  from  the  window  of  48,  Potsdamerstrasse. 
It  is  a  snare  for  the  unwary,  but  the  League  uses  it 
here  as  in  countless  other  instances  as  a  cloak  for  its 
warfare  against  the  U.S.A. 

The  League  started  early  in  the  war  by  issuing  book- 
lets by  the  ton  for  distribution  in  Germany  and  Amer- 
ica. Subscription  blanks  were  scattered  broadcast  for 
contributions  for  the  cause  of  light  and  truth.  Dona- 
tions soon  poured  in,  some  of  them  very  large,  from 
Germans  and  German-Americans  who  wished,  many  of 
them  sincerely,  to  have  what  they  considered  the  truth 
told  about  Germany. 

The  ways  of  the  League,  however,  being  crooked, 
some  of  the  charter  members  began  to  fall  away  from 


THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  VULTURE   131 

one  another  and  many  of  the  doings  of  the  ringleaders 
are  now  coming  to  light. 

The  League  must  be  doing  well  financially,  as  Wil- 
liam Martin,  the  chief  of  the  Potsdamerstrasse^  office, 
jubilantly  declared  that  no  matter  how  the  war  ended 
he  would  come  out  of  it  with  a  million. 

Any  real  American,  whether  at  home  or  abroad, 
deeply  resents  the  degradation  of  his  flag.  Yet  the 
League  of  Truth  in  Berlin  has  consistently  dragged  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  in  the  mire,  and  that  in  a  country 
which  boasts  that  the  police  are  not  only  omniscient  but 
omnipotent. 

A  constant  attempt,  in  accordance  with  the  policy  of 
most  German  newspapers,  I  may  add,  is  made  to  de- 
pict us  as  a  spineless  jelly-fish  nation.  They  have  re- 
garded principles  of  international  custom  as  little  as  the 
manipulators  of  submarines  under  the  reign  of  Tirpitz. 

Last  fourth  of  July,  Charles  Mueller,  a  pseudo- 
American,  hung  from  his  home  in  the  busy  Kurfiirsten- 
damm  a  huge  American  flag  with  a  deep  border  of 
black  that  Berlin  might  see  a  "real  American's"  symbol 
of  humiliation.  On  the  same  day,  dear  to  the  hearts  of 
Americans,  a  four-page  flyer  was  spread  broadcast 
through  the  German  capital  with  a  black  border  on  the 
front  page  enclosing  a  black  cross.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  bordered  with  black  inside  and  an 
ode  to  American  degradation  by  John  L.  Stoddard  com- 
pleted the  slap  in  the  face. 

The  League  selected  January  27th,  1916,  the  Kaiser's 
birthday,  as  a  suitable  occasion  for  Mueller  and  Marten, 
not  even  hyphenates,  solemnly  and  in  the  presence  of  a 
great  crowd  to  place  an  immense  wreath  at  the  base  of 


132     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

the  statue  of  Frederick  the  Great  on  the  Linden,  with 
the  inscription  "Wilson  and  his  Press  are  not  America." 

The  stern  Police  Department  of  Berlin  does  not  per- 
mit the  promiscuous  scattering  of  floral  decorations  and 
advertising  matter  on  the  statues  of  German  gods,  and 
the  fact  that  the  wreath  remained  there  month  after 
month  proved  that  somebody  high  up  was  sanctioning 
the  methods  of  the  League. 

The  protests  of  the  American  Ambassador  were  of 
no  avail,  until  he  determined  to  make  an  end  of  the 
humiliation,  after  three  months,  by  threatening  to  go 
down  to  this  busy  section  of  Berlin,  near  the  Koyal  Pal- 
ace, and  remove  the  wreath  himself.  Force  is  the  only 
argument  which  impresses  the  Prussians,  and  we  are 
extremely  fortunate  that  our  Ambassador  to  Germany  is 
a  man  of  force. 

The  League,  however,  had  printed  a  picture  of  the 
wreath  in  its  issue  of  Light  and  Truth,  which  it  en- 
deavours to  circulate  everywhere. 

Stoddard,  mentioned  above,  is  the  famous  lecturer. 
He  has  written  booklets  for  the  League,  one  of  which  I 
read  in  America.  His  last  pamphlet,  however,  is  a 
most  scurrilous  attack  against  his  country.  He  raves 
against  America,  and,  after  throwing  the  facts  of  in- 
ternational law  to  the  winds,  he  shrieks  for  the  impeach- 
ment of  Wilson  to  stop  this  slaughter  for  which  he  has 
sold  himself. 

It  is  no  secret  in  Berlin  that  the  League  have  sys- 
tematically hounded  Mr.  Gerard.  I  do  not  know  why 
they  hate  him,  unless  it  is  because  he  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Government.  I  have  heard  it  said  that 
one  way  to  get  at  Wilson  was  through  his  Ambassador. 


THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  VULTURE   133 

Their  threats  and  abuse  became  so  great  that  he  and  one 
of  the  American  newspaper  correspondents  went  to  48, 
Potsdamerstrasse  during  the  Sussex  crisis  to  warn  the 
leaders.  They  answered  by  swearing  out  a  warrant 
against  Mr.  Gerard  with  the  Berlin  police — paying  no 
heed  to  international  customs  in  such  matters — and  cir- 
culating copies  of  the  charge  broadcast. 

Readers  who  are  familiar  with  Germany  know  that 
if  a  man  does  not  instantly  defend  himself  against  Be- 
leidigung  society  judges  him  guilty.  Thus  this  and 
countless  other  printed  circulations  of  falsehood  against 
Mr.  Gerard  have  cruelly  hurt  him  throughout  Ger- 
many, as  I  know  from  personal  investigation.  Next  to 
Mr.  Wilson  and  a  few  men  in  England  he  is  the  most 
hated  man  among  the  German  people.  He  finally  felt 
obliged  to  deny  in  the  German  Press  some  of  the  ab- 
surd stories  circulated  about  him,  such  as  that  of  Mrs. 
Gerard  putting  a  German  decoration  he  received  on  her 
dog. 

Mueller,  however,  was  not  content  with  mere  printed 
attacks,  but  has  made  threats  against  the  life  of  the 
American  Ambassador.  A  prominent  American  has 
sworn  an  affidavit  to  this  effect,  but  Mueller  still  pur- 
sues his  easy  way.  On  the  night  that  the  farewell  din- 
ner was  being  given  to  a  departing  secretary  at  our 
Embassay,  Mueller  and  a  German  officer  went  about 
Berlin  seeking  Mr.  Gerard  for  the  professed  purpose  of 
picking  a  fight  with  him.  They  went  to  Richards' 
Restaurant,  where  the  dinner  was  being  given,  but  for- 
tunately missed  the  Ambassador. 

The  trickery  of  the  League  would  fill  a  volume,  for 
Marten  especially  is  particularly  clever.  He  leapt  into 


134    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

fame  in  Berlin  by  going  to  Belgium  "at  his  own  risk." 
as  he  says,  to  refute  the  charges  of  German  cruelty 
there.  His  book  on  Belgium,  and  a  later  one  claiming 
to  refute  the  Bryce  report,  are  unimpressive  since  they 
fail  to  introduce  facts,  and  the  writer  contents  himself 
for  the  main  part  with  soliloquies  on  Belgian  battle- 
fields, in  which  he  attacks  Russian  aggression  and 
Britain's  perfidy  in  entering  the  war.  The  Belgians, 
we  gather,  are  more  or  less  delighted  with  the  change 
from  Albert  to  Wilhelm. 

Marten  prints  testimonials  of  the  book  from  leading 
Germans,  most  of  whom,  such  as  General  Falkenhayn, 
content  themselves  with  acknowledgment  of  receipt  with 
thanks  and  statement  of  having  read  the  work.  Count 
Zeppelin  goes  further,  and  hopes  that  the  volume  will 
find  a  wide  circulation,  particularly  in  neutral  countries. 

And  now  for  the  vice-president  of  this  anti-American 
organisation.  He  is  St.  John  Gaffney,  former  Ameri- 
can Consul-General  to  Munich.  He  belongs  to  the  mod- 
ern martyr  series  of  the  German  of  to-day.  All  over 
Germany  I  was  told  that  he  was  dismissed  by  Mr.  Wil- 
son because  he  sympathised  with  Germany.  The  Ger- 
mans as  a  mass  know  nothing  further,  but  I  can  state 
from  unimpeachable  authority  that  he  used  rooms  of 
the  American  Hospital  in  Munich,  while  a  member  of 
the  board  of  that  hospital  and  an  officer  in  the  consular 
service  of  the  United  States,  for  propaganda  purposes. 
His  presence  became  so  objectionable  to  the  heads  of 
the  hospital,  excellent  people  whose  sole  aim  is  to  aid 
suffering  humanity,  that  he  was  ousted. 

He  returned  from  his  American  trip  after  his  dis- 
missal last  year  and  gave  a  widely  quoted  interview 


THE  EAGLE  AND  THE  VULTURE    135 

upon  arrival  in  Germany  which  sought  to  discredit 
America — through  hitting  Mr.  Wilson  and  the  Press — 
in  the  most  tense  point  of  our  last  altercation  in  Feb- 
ruary with  Germany  over  the  Lusitania.  Such  men  as 
Gaffney  are  greatly  to  blame  for  many  German  delu- 
sions. 

Mr.  Gerard  is  not  the  only  official  whose  path  has 
not  been  strewn  with  roses  in  Germany.  Our  military 
attache  has  not  been  permitted  to  go  to  the  German 
front  for  nearly  a  year,  and  the  snub  is  apparent  in  the 
newspaper  and  Government  circles  of  Berlin.  He  is 
probably  the  only  one  left  behind. 

The  big  Press  does  not  use  League  of  Truth  material 
and  certain  other  anti-American  copy  which  would  be 
bad  for  Germany,  to  reach  foreign  critics'  attacks. 
Many  provincial  papers,  however,  furiously  protested 
against  the  recent  trip  of  the  American  military  attache 
through  industrial  Germany.  It  was  only  the  Ameri- 
can, not  other  foreign  attaches,  to  whom  they  objected. 

All  this  is  useful  to  the  German  Government,  for  it 
keeps  the  populace  in  the  right  frame  of  mind  for  two 
purposes.  In  the  first  place,  a  hatred  of  America  in- 
spired by  the  belief  that  she  is  really  an  enemy,  gives 
the  German  Government  greater  power  over  the  people. 
Secondly,  should  the  Wilhelmstrasse  decide  to  play  the 
relentless  submarine  warfare  as  its  last  hand  it  will  have 
practically  united  support. 


CHAPTER  XII 

IN  THE  GKIP  OF  THE  FLEET 

THERE  is  only  one  way  to  realise  the  distress  in  Ger- 
many, and  that  is  to  go  there  and  travel  as  widely 
as  possible — preferably  on  foot.  The  truth  about  the 
food  situation  and  the  growing  discontent  cannot  be 
told  by  the  neutral  correspondent  in  Germany.  It  must 
be  memorised  and  carried  across  the  frontier  in  the 
brain,  for  the  searching  process  extends  to  the  very  skin 
of  the  traveller.  If  he  has  an  umbrella  or  a  stick  it  is 
likely  to  be  broken  for  examination.  The  heels  are 
taken  from  his  boots  lest  they  may  conceal  writings. 
This  does  not  happen  in  every  case,  but  it  takes  place 
frequently.  Many  travellers  are  in  addition  given  an 
acid  bath  to  develop  any  possible  writing  in  invisible 
ink. 

In  Germany,  as  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  conceal  the 
actual  state  of  affairs  from  any  but  highly  placed  and 
carefully  attended  neutrals  travelling  therein,  the  ut- 
most pains  are  being  taken  to  mislead  the  outside  world. 
The  foreign  correspondents  are  not  allowed  to  send  any- 
thing the  Government  does  not  wish  to  get  out.  They 
are,  moreover,  regularly  dosed  with  propaganda  dis- 
tributed by  the  Nachrichtendienst  (Publicity  Service 
of  the  Foreign  Office). 

One  of  the  books  handed  round  to  the  neutrals  when 
I  was  in  Berlin  was  a  treatise  on  the  German  industrial 

136 


IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET       13? 

and  economic  situation  by  Professor  Cassell,  of  the 
University  of  Upsala,  Sweden. 

He  came  upon  the  invitation  of  the  German  author- 
ities for  a  three  weeks'  study  of  conditions.  In  his 
preface  he  artlessly  mentions  that  he  was  enabled  to 
accomplish  so  much  in  three  weeks  owing  to  the  praise- 
worthy way  in  which  everything  was  arranged  for  him. 
He  compiled  his  work  from  information  discreetly 
imparted  at  interviews  with  officials,  from  printed  sta- 
tistics, and  from  observations  made  on  carefully 
shepherded  expeditions.  Neutral  correspondents  are 
expected  to  use  this  sort  of  thing,  which  is  turned  out 
by  the  hundredweight,  as  the  basis  of  their  communica- 
tions to  their  newspapers.  We  were  supplied  with  a 
similar  volume  on  the  "Great  German  naval  victory 
of  Jutland." 

One  feels  in  Germany  that  the  great  drama  of  the 
war  is  the  drama  of  the  food  supply — the  struggle  of 
a  whole  nation  to  prevent  itself  being  exhausted  through 
hunger  and  shortage  of  raw  materials. 

After  six  months  of  war  the  bread  ticket  was  intro- 
duced, which  guaranteed  thirty-eight  ordinary  sized 
rolls  or  equivalent  each  week  to  everybody  throughout 
the  Empire.  In  the  autumn  of  1915  Tuesday  and  Fri- 
day became  meatless  days.  The  butter  lines  had  become 
an  institution  towards  the  close  of  the  year.  There  was 
little  discomfort,  however. 

For  seventeen  months  Germany  laughed  at  the  at- 
tempt to  starve  her  out.  Then,  early  in  1916  came  a 
change.  An  economic  decline  was  noticeable,  a  decline 
which  was  rapid  and  continuous  during  each  succeeding 
month.  Pork  disappeared  from  the  menu,  beef  became 


138     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

scarcer  and  scarcer,  but  veal  was  plentiful  until  April. 
In  March  sugar  could  be  obtained  in  only  small  quan- 
tities, six  months  later  the  unnutritious  saccharine  had 
almost  completely  replaced  it.  Fish  continued  in  abun- 
dance, but  became  increasingly  expensive.  A  shortage 
in  meat  caused  a  run  on  eggs.  In  September  egg  cards 
limited  each  person  to  two  eggs  per  week,  in  December 
the  maximum  became  one  egg  in  two  weeks.  Vege- 
tables, particularly  cabbage  and  turnips,  were  plentiful 
enough  to  be  of  great  help. 

In  Berlin  the  meat  shortage  became  4so  acute  in 
April,  1916,  that  for  five  days  in  the  week  preceding 
Easter  most  butchers'  shops  did  not  open  their  doors. 
This  made  it  imperative  that  the  city  should  extend 
the  ticket  rationing  system  to  meat.  The  police  issued 
cards  to  the  residents  of  their  districts,  permitting  them 
to  purchase  one-half  pound  of  meat  per  week  from  a 
butcher  to  whom  they  were  arbitrarily  assigned  in  order 
to  facilitate  distribution.  The  butchers  buy  through  the 
municipal  authorities,  who  contract  for  the  entire  sup- 
ply of  the  city.  The  tickets  are  in  strips,  each  of  which 
represents  a  week,  and  each  strip  is  subdivided  into  five 
sections  for  the  convenience  of  diners  in  restaurants. 

Since  the  supply  in  each  butcher's  shop  was  seldom 
sufficient  to  let  everybody  be  served  in  one  day,  the 
custom  of  posting  in  the  windows  or  advertising  in  the 
local  papers  "Thursday,  Nos.  1-500,"  and  later,  Sat- 
urday, Nos.  501-1000,"  was  introduced.  A  few  butch- 
ers went  still  further  and  announced  at  what  houra 
certain  numbers  could  be  served,  thus  doing  away  with 
the  long  queues. 

Most  of  the  competent  authorities  with  whom  I  dis- 


IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET       139 

cussed  the  matter  agreed  that  the  great  flaw  in  the  meat 
regulations  was  that,  unlike  those  of  bread,  they  were 
only  local  and  thus  there  were  great  differences  and  cor- 
respondinng  discontent  all  over  Germany. 

One  factor  which  contributed  to  Germany's  shortage 
of  meat  was  the  indiscriminate  killing  of  the  live- 
stock, especially  pigs,  when  the  price  of  fodder  first  rose 
in  the  last  months  of  1914.  Most  of  this  excess  killing 
was  done  by  the  small  owners.  Our  plates  were  heaped 
unnecessarily.  Some  of  the  dressing  was  done  so  hur- 
riedly and  carelessly  that  there  were  numerous  cases  of 
pork  becoming  so  full  of  worms  that  it  had  to  be 
destroyed. 

The  great  agrarian  junkers  were  not  forced  by  lack 
of  fodder  to  kill;  consequently  they  own  a  still  larger 
proportion  of  the  live-stock  than  they  did  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war. 

On  October  1st,  1916,  the  regulation  of  meat  was 
taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  local  authorities  so  far 
as  their  power  to  regulate  the  amount  for  each  person 
was  concerned,  and  this  amount  was  made  practically 
the  same  throughout  Germany. 

First  and  foremost  in  the  welfare  of  the  people,  what- 
ever may  be  said  by  the  vegetarians,  is  the  vital  ques- 
tion of  the  meat  supply.  Involved  in  the  question  of 
cattle  is  milk,  leather,  other  products,  and  of  course, 
meat  itself.  • 

One  German  statistician  told  me  he  believed  that 
the  conquest  of  Roumania  would  add  between  nine  and 
ten  months  to  Germany's  capacity  to  hold  out,  during 
which  time,  no  doubt,  one  or  other  of  the  Allies  would 
succumb. 


140     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

At  the  beginning  of  1917  the  actual  number  of  cattle 
in  Germany  does  not  seem  to  be  so  greatly  depreciated 
as  one  would  expect.  After  a  very  thorough  investiga- 
tion I  am  convinced  that  there  are  in  Germany  to-day 
from  three-fourths  to  four-fifths  as  many  head  of  cattle 
as  there  were  before  the  war. 

In  the  spring  and  summer  these  cattle  did  very  well, 
but  with  the  passing  of  the  grazing  season  new  difficul- 
ties are  arising.  Cattle  must  be  fed,  and  unless  suffi- 
cient grain  comes  from  Roumania  to  supply  the  bread 
for  the  people  and  the  fodder  for  the  cattle  it  is  obvious 
that  there  must  be  a  wholesale  slaughtering,  and  con- 
sequent reduction  of  milk,  butter,  and  cheese. 

All  these  details  may  seem  tiresome,  but  they  directly 
concern  the  length  of  the  war. 

To  add  to  the  shortage,  the  present  stock  of  cattle 
in  Germany  was,  when  I  left,  being  largely  drawn  upon 
for  the  supply  of  the  German  armies  in  the  occupied 
parts  of  France,  Belgium,  and  Russia,  and  the  winter 
prospect  for  Germany,  therefore,  is  one  of  obviously 
increased  privation,  provided  always  that  the  blockade 
is  drastic. 

Cattle  are,  of  course,  not  the  only  food  supply.  There 
is  game.  Venison  is  a  much  commoner  food  in  Ger- 
many than  in  England,  especially  now  there  is  much 
of  it  left.  *EIares,  rabbits,  partridges  are  in  some  parts 
of  Germany  much  more  numerous  even  than  in  Eng- 
land. A  friend  of  mine  recently  arrived  from  Hungary 
told  me  that  he  had  been  present  at  a  shoot  over  driven 
partridges  at  which,  on  three  successive  days,  over  400 
brace  fell  to  the  guns.  Wherever  I  went  in  Germany, 
however,  game  was  being  netted. 


IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET        141 

Before  the  war,  pork,  ham,  and  bacon  were  the  most 
popular  German  food,  but  owing  to  the  mistake  of 
killing  pigs  in  what  I  heard  called  the  "pork  panic" 
the  Germans  are  to-day  facing  a  remarkable  shortage  of 
their  favourite  meat.  I  am  convinced  that  they  began 
1917  with  less  than  one-fourth  as  many  pigs  as  they  had 
before  the  war. 

The  Berlin  stockyards  slaughtered  over  25,000  pigs 
weekly  before  August,  1914.  During  the  first  10 
months  of  the  war  the  figure  actually  rose  to  50,000 
pigs  per  week  in  that  one  city  alone.  In  one 
week  in  September  last  the  figure  had  fallen  to  350 
pigs! 

The  great  slaughter  early  in  the  war  gave  a  false 
optimism  not  only  to  Germans,  but  also  to  visitors.  If 
you  have  the  curiosity  to  look  back  at  newspapers  of  that 
time  you  will  find  that  the  great  plenty  of  pork  was 
dilated  upon  by  travelling  neutrals. 

To-day  the  most  tremendous  efforts  are  being  made 
to  increase  the  number  of  pigs.  You  will  not  find  much 
about  this  in  the  German  newspapers — in  fact  what 
the  German  newspapers  do  not  print  is  often  more  im- 
portant than  what  they  do  print.  In  the  rural  districts 
you  can  learn  much  more  of  Germany's  food  secrets 
than  in  the  newspapers. 

In  one  small  village  which  I  went  to  I  counted  no 
fewer  than  thirty  public  notices  on  various  topics.  Here 
is  one: — 

FATTEN  PIGS. 

Fat  is  an  essential  for  sol- 
diers and  hard  workers. 
Not  to  keep  and  fatten  pigs 


1 42     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

if  you  are  able  to  do 
so  is  treason  to  the 

Fatherland. 
No  pen  empty — every  pen  full. 

These  food  notices  may  be  necessary,  but  they  are 
bringing  about  intense  class  hatred  in  Germany.  They 
are  directed  at  the  small  farmer,  who  in  many  cases  has 
killed  all  his  pigs  and  most  of  his  cows,  because  of  his 
difficulty  in  getting  fodder.  As  I  have  said,  the  great 
agrarian  junkers,  the  wealthy  landowners  of  Prussia, 
have  in  many  cases  more  cows,  more  pigs,  more  poultry 
than  before  the  war. 

The  facts  of  these  great  disparities  of  life  are  well 
known,  and  if  there  were  more  individuality  in  the 
German  character  they  would  lead  to  something  more 
serious  than  the  very  tame  riots,  at  several  of  which  I 
have  been  present. 

That  the  food  question  is  the  dominating  topic  in 
Germany  among  all  except  the  very  rich,  and  that  this 
winter  will  add  to  the  intensity  of  the  conversations  on 
the  subject,  is  not  difficult  to  understand.  Most  of  the 
shopping  of  the  world  is  done  by  women,  and  the  Ger- 
man woman  of  the  middle  class,  whose  maidservant 
has  gone  off  to  a  munition  factory,  has  to  spend  at  least 
half  her  day  waiting  in  a  long  line  for  potatoes,  butter, 
or  meat. 

There  is  a  curious  belief  in  England  and  in  the 
United  States  in  the  perfection  of  German  organisation. 
My  experience  of  their  organisation  is  that  it  is  abso- 
lutely marvellous — when  there  are  no  unexpected  diffi- 
culties in  the  way.  When  the  Germans  first  put  the 
nation  on  rations  as  to  certain  commodities,  the  outside 


IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET        143 

world  said,  "Ah,  they  arc  beginning  to  starve!"  or 
"What  wonderful  organisers!" 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  were  not  beginning  to  starve, 
and  they  were  not  wonderful  organisers.  The  rationing 
was  done  about  as  badly  as  it  could  be  done.  It  was 
arranged  in  such  a  fashion  as  to  produce  plenty  in  some 
places  and  dearth  in  others.  It  was  done  so  that  wealthy 
men  made  fortunes  and  poor  men  were  made  still 
poorer.  The  inordinate  greed  and  lack  of  real  patriot- 
ism on  the  part  of  influential  parties  in  both  Germany 
and  Austria-Hungary  have  added  to  the  bad  state  of 
affairs.  As  if  to  make  matters  worse,  the  whole  vast 
machine  of  rationing  by  ticket  was  based  on  the  expecta- 
tion of  a  comparatively  quick  and  decisive  victory  for 
Germany.  This  led  to  reckless  consumption  and  a  great 
rise  in  prices.  The  fight  that  is  now  going  on  between 
the  masses  in  the  towns  and  the  wealthy  land-owning 
farmers  has  been  denounced  in  public  by  food  dictator 
Batocki  (pronounced  Batoski),  who,  in  words  almost 
of  despair,  complained  of  the  selfish  landed  proprietor, 
who  would  only  disgorge  to  the  suffering  millions  in 
the  great  manufacturing  centres  at  a  price  greatly  ex- 
ceeding that  fixed  by  the  food  authorities. 

All  manner  of  earnest  public  men  are  endeavouring 
to  cope  with  the  coming  distress,  and  at  this  point  I 
can  do  no  better  than  quote  from  an  interview  given 
me  by  Dr.  Siidekum,  Social  Democratic  member  of  the 
Reichstag  for  Nuremberg,  Bavaria.  He  is  a  sincere 
patriot,  and  a  prominent  worker  in  food  organisation. 

"More  than  a  year  ago,"  he  explained,  "I  worked 
out  a  plan  for  the  distribution  of  food,  which  provided 
for  uniform  food-cards  throughout  the  entire  empire. 


144    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

For  example,  everyone,  whether  he  lived  in  a  Bavarian 
village  or  in  a  Prussian  city,  would  receive,  say,  half 
a  pound  of  meat  a  week.  I  presented  my  plan  to  the 
Government,  with  whose  approval  it  met.  Xeverthe- 
less,  they  did  not  see  fit  to  adopt  it  for  three  reasons. 
In  the  first  place  because  they  believed  that  the  people 
might  become  unnecessarily  alarmed.  Secondly,  be- 
cause our  enemies  might  make  capital  out  of  such 
measures.  Thirdly,  because  our  leaders  at  that  time 
believed  that  the  war  might  be  over  before  the  end  of 
1915. 

'*But  the  war  dragged  on,  and  we  were  somewhat 
extravagant  with  our  supplies — I  except  bread,  for 
which  we  introduced  cards  in  February,  1915 — and 
instead  of  the  whole  Empire  husbanding  the  distribu- 
tion of  meat,  for  example,  various  sections  here  and 
there  introduced  purely  local  measures,  with  the  inevi- 
table resulting  confusion. 

"Hunger  has  been  a  cause  of  revolution  in  the  past," 
Dr.  Siidekum  continued  thoughtfully.  frWe  should  take 
lessons  from  history,  and  do  everything  in  our  power 
to  provide  for  the  poor.  I  have  worked  hard  in  the 
development  of  the  'People's  Kitchens'  in  Berlin.  We 
started  in  the  suburbs  early  in  1916,  in  some  great  cen- 
tral kitchens  in  which  we  cook  a  nourishing  meat  and 
vegetable  stew.  From  these  kitchens  distributing  vehi- 
cles— Gulasch-kanonen  (stew  cannons)  as  they  are  jocu- 
larly called — are  sent  through  the  city,  and  from  them 
one  may  purchase  enough  for  a  meal  at  less  than  the 
cost  of  production.  We  have  added  a  new  central 
kitchen  each  week  until  we  now  have  30,  each  of  which 
supplies  10,000  people  a  day  with  a  meal,  or,  more 


IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET       145 

correctly,  a  meal  and  a  half.  In  July,  however,  the 
work  assumed  greater  proportions,  for  the  municipal 
authorities  also  created  great  central  kitchens.  Most 
of  the  dinners  are  taken  to  the  homes  and  eaten  there. 

"The  People's  Kitchen  idea  is  now  spreading  through- 
out Germany.  But  I  believe  in  going  further.  I  be- 
lieve in  putting  every  German — I  make  no  exception — 
upon  rations.  That  is  what  is  done  in  a  besieged  city, 
and  our  position  is  sufficiently  analogous  to  a  besieged 
city  to  warrant  the  same  measures.  All  our  food  would 
then  be  available  for  equal  distribution,  and  each  person 
would  get  his  allowance." 

This  earnest  Social  Democrat's  idea  is,  of  course, 
perfect  in  theory.  Even  the  able,  hard-working  Batocki, 
however,  cannot  make  it  practicable.  Why  not  ?  The 
Agrarian,  the  great  Junker  of  Prussia,  not  only  will 
not  make  sacrifices,  but  stubbornly  insists  upon  wring- 
ing every  pfennig  of  misery  money  from  the  nation 
which  has  boasted  to  the  world  that  its  patriotism  was 
unselfish  and  unrivalled. 

The  most  important  German  crop  of  all  at  this 
juncture  is  potatoes,  for  potatoes  are  an  integral  part 
of  German  and  Austrian  bread.  The  handling  of  the 
crop,  to  which  all  Germany  was  looking  forward  so 
eagerly,  exhibits  in  its  most  naked  form  the  horrid  pro- 
fiteering to  which  the  German  poor  are  being  subjected 
by  the  German  rich. 

It  was  a  wet  summer  in  Germany.  Wherever  I  went 
in  my  rural  excursions  I  heard  that  the  potatoes  were 
poor.  The  people  in  the  towns  knew  little  of  this,  and 
were  told  that  the  harvests  were  good. 

An  abominable  deception  was  practised  upon  the  pub- 


146    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

lie  with  the  first  potato  supply.  For  many  months 
tickets  had  heen  in  use  for  this  food,  which  is  called 
the  "German  staff  of  life."  Suddenly  official  notices 
appeared  that  potatoes  could  be  had  for  a  few  days 
without  tickets,  and  the  unsuspecting  public  at  once 
ordered  great  quantities. 

The  Agrarians  thus  got  rid  of  all  their  bad  potatoes  to 
the  mass  of  the  people.  In  many  cases  they  were 
rotting  so  fast  that  the  purchaser  had  to  bury  them. 
It  was  found  that  they  produced  illness  when  given  to 
swine. 

What  other  people  in  the  world  than  the  Germans 
would  stand  that?  But  they  did  stand  it.  "These  are 
only  the  early  potattoes — the  main  crop  will  be  all 
right,"  said  the  profiteers  right  and  left,  and  gradually 
the  masses  began  to  echo  them,  as  is  usual  in  Germany. 

Well,  the  main  crop  has  been  gathered,  and  Food 
Dictator  von  Batocki  is,  according  to  the  latest  reports 
I  hear  from  Germany,  unable  to  make  the  Agrarians 
put  their  potatoes  upon  the  market  even  at  the  maxi- 
mum price  set  by  the  Food  Commission. 

They  are  holding  back  their  supplies  until  they  have 
forced  up  the  maximum  price,  just  as  a  year  ago  many 
of  them  allowed  their  potatoes  to  rot  rather  than  sell 
them  to  the  millions  in  the  cities  at  the  price  set  by 
law. 

Some  Germans,  mostly  Social  Democratic  leaders, 
declare  that  since  their  country  is  in  a  state  of  siege, 
the  Government  should,  beyond  question,  commandeer 
the  supplies  and  distribute  them,  but  just  as  the  indus- 
trial classes  have,  until  quite  recently,  resisted  war 
taxes,  so  do  the  Prussian  Junkers,  by  reason  of  their 


IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET        14? 

power  in  the  Reichstag,  snap  their  fingers  at  any  sug- 
gested fair  laws  for  food  distribution. 

The  Burgomaster — usually  a  powerful  person  in 
Germany — is  helpless.  When  on  September  1  the  great 
house-to-house  inventory  of  food  supplies  was  taken, 
burgomasters  of  the  various  sections  of  Greater  Berlin 
took  orders  from  the  people  for  the  whole  winter  supply 
of  potatoes  on  special  forms  delivered  at  every  house. 
Up  to  the  time  I  left,  the  burgomasters  were  unable 
to  deliver  the  potatoes. 

Any  dupes  of  German  propaganda  who  imagine  that 
there  is  much  self -sacrifice  among  the  wealthy  class  in 
Germany  in  this  war  should  disabuse  their  minds  of 
that  theory  at  once.  While  the  poor  are  being  deprived 
of  what  they  have,  the  purchases  of  pearls,  diamonds, 
and  other  gems  by  the  profiteers  are  on  a  scale  never 
before  known  in  Germany. 

One  of  the  paradoxes  of  the  situation,  both  in  Austria 
and  in  Germany,  is  the  coincidence  of  the  great  gold 
hunt,  which  is  clearing  out  the  trinkets  of  the  humblest, 
with  the  roaring  trade  in  jewelry  in  Berlin  and  Vienna. 
As  an  instance  I  can  vouch  for  the  veracity  of  the  fol- 
lowing story : — 

A  Berlin  woman  went  to  Werner's,  the  well-known 
jewellers  in  the  TJnter  den  Linden,  and  asked  to  be 
shown  some  pearl  necklaces.  After  very  little  exam- 
ination she  selected  one  that  cost  40,000  marks 
(£2,000).  The  manager,  who  knew  the  purchaser  as  a 
regular  customer  for  small  articles  of  jewelry,  ven- 
tured to  express  his  surprise,  remarking,  "I  well  remem- 
ber, madam,  that  you  have  been  coming  here  for  many 
years,  and  that  you  have  never  bought  anything  ex- 
ceeding in  value  100  marks.  Naturally  I  am  somewhat 


E4fl     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

surprised  at  the  purchase  of  this  necklace,"  "Oh,  it 
it  very  simple,"  she  replied.  "H£y  husband  is  in  the 
leather  business,  and  our  war  profits  have  made  us  rich 
beyond  our  fondest  hopes." 

Throughout  Austria  and  Germany  in  every  village 
and  townlet  are  appearing  notices  to  bring  in  gold. 
The  following  notice  is  to  be  met  with  in  all  parts  of 
Germany: — 

LET  EVERY  ONE  WORTHY  OF  THB  NAME  OF 
GERMAN  DO  HIS  DUTY  sow. 

Our  enemies,  after  realising  that  they  cannot  de- 
feat us  on  the  field  of  battle,  are  striving  to  defeat 
us  economically.  But  here  they  win  also  f  aiL 

OCT  WITH  YOUR  GOLD. 

Out  with  your  gold !  What  is  the  value  of  a  trinket 
to  the  life  of  the  dear  one  that  gave  it  I  By  giving 
now  you  may  save  the  life  of  a  husband,  brother,  or 
son. 

Bring  your  gold  to  the  places  designated  below. 

If  the  value  of  the  gold  you  bring  exceeds  five 
marlnt,  yon  will  receive  an  iron  memento  of  "Die 
grosseZeiL" 

Iron  chains  will  be  given  for  gold  chains. 

Wedding  rings  of  those  still  living  will  not  be  ac- 
cepted* 

From  rural  pulpits  is  preached  the  wickedness  of 
retaining  gold  which  might  purchase  food  for  the  man 
in  the  trenches. 

The  precedent  of  the  historic  great  ladies  of  Prussia 
who  exchanged  their  golden  wedding  rings  for  rings 
of  iron  is  drummed  into  the  smaller  folk  continuously. 
The  example  is  being  followed  by  the  exchange  of  gold 
trinkets  for  trinkets  made  of  iron,  with  the  addition  of 


IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET        149 

the  price  paid  at  the  central  collecting  station — paid,  of 
course,  in  paper,  which  is  at  a  30  per  cent,  discount  in 
Germany  and  47  per  cent,  discount  in  Austria.  Every 
bringer  of  a  trinket  worth  more  than  5s.  receives  a 
small  iron  token  of  "die  grosse  Zeit"  (the  great  epoch). 

The  gold  hunt  has  revealed  unexpected  possessions  in 
the  hands  of  the  German  and  Austrian  lower  classes. 
To  me  it  was  pathetic  to  see  an  old  woman  tremblingly 
handing  over  treasures  that  had  come  down  probably  for 
two  or  three  generations — treasures  that  had  never  been 
worn  except  on  high  days  and  festivals,  weddings,  and 
perhaps  on  the  day  of  the  local  fair.  Particularly  sad 
is  this  self-sacrifice  in  view  of  the  gigantic  profits  of  the 
food  usurers  and  war  profiteers.  The  matter  is  no 
secret  in  Germany  or  Austria.  It  is  denounced  by  the 
small  Socialist  minority  in  the  Reichstag,  to  whose 
impotence  I  have  often  referred.  It  is  stoutly  defended 
in  good  Prussian  fashion  by  those  openly  making  the 
profits. 

There  has  arisen  a  one-sided  Socialism  which  no  one 
but  Bismarck's  famous  "nation  of  lackeys"  would 
tolerate.  At  the  top  is  a  narrow  circle  of  agrarian  and 
industrial  profiteers,  often  belonging  to  the  aristocratic 
classes.  At  the  other  end  of  the  scale  is,  for  example, 
the  small  farmer,  who  has  now  absolutely  nothing  to  say 
concerning  either  the  planting,  the  marketing,  or  the 
selling  of  his  crops.  Regulations  are  laid  down  as  to 
what  he  should  sow,  where  he  should  sell,  and  the  price 
at  which  he  should  sell.  Unlike  the  Junker,  he  has  not 
a  long  purse.  He  must  sell. 

What  state  of  mind  does  this  produce  among  the 
people  ?  I  know  that  outside  Germany  there  is  an  idea 


150    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

that  every  German  is  working  at  top  speed  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Fatherland  naming  him  on.  That  was  the 
spirit  I  witnessed  in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  when 
Germany  was  winning  and  food  was  plentiful. 

In  certain  rural  districts  as  well  as  in  centres  of 
population  there  is  an  intense  longing  for  peace — not 
merely  for  a  German  peace — but  any  peace,  and  a  peace 
not  merely  for  military  reasons,  but  arising  out  of 
utter  weariness  of  the  rule  of  the  profiteers  and  the  cas- 
ualties not  revealed  by  the  doctored  lists — ingeniously 
issued  lists,  which,  for  example,  have  never  revealed 
the  loss  of  a  submarine  crew,  though  intelligent  Ham- 
burg shipping  people,  who  are  in  close  touch  with  Ger- 
man naval  people,  estimate  the  loss  of  German 
submarines  as  at  least  one  hundred.  I  have  heard  the 
figure  put  higher,  and  also  lower. 

This  kind  of  one-sided  Socialism  makes  the  people  so 
apathetic  that  in  some  parts  of  Germany  it  has  been 
very  difficult  to  induce  them  to  harvest  their  own  crops, 
and  in  German  Poland  they  have  been  forced  to  garner 
the  fields  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

When  a  man  has  no  interest  in  the  planting,  market- 
ing, and  selling  price  of  his  produce;  when  he  knows 
that  what  he  grows  may  be  swept  away  from  his  dis- 
trict without  being  sure  that  it  will  be  of  any  benfit  to 
himself  and  his  family ;  when,  in  addition,  the  father  or 
sons  of  the  households  lie  buried  by  the  Yser,  the 
Somme,  the  Meuse  or  the  Drina,  it  is  impossible  for  the 
authorities  to  inspire  any  enthusiasm  for  life,  let  alone 
war,  even  among  so  docile  a  people  as  those  they  deal 

with. 

******* 


IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET       151 

With  regard  to  the  other  crops,  rye  is  good ;  beets  look 
good,  but  are  believed  to  be  deficient  in  sugar  owing  to 
the  absence  of  South  American  fertilisers;  wheat  is 
fairly  good;  oats  extremely  good,  and  barley  also  ex- 
cellent. The  Germans  have  boasted  to  the  neutral  vis- 
itor that  their  artificial  nitrates  are  just  as  good  fertili- 
sers as  those  imported  from  South  America.  It  is  true 
that  they  do  very  well  for  most  crops  when  the  weather 
is  damp.  But  beets,  strangely  enough,  require  the  gen- 
uine Chilean  saltpetre  to  produce  their  maximum  of 
sugar.  The  failure  to  get  this,  plus  the  use  of  sugar 
in  munition  making,  accounts  for  the  dearth  of  that 
commodity  among  the  civilian  population. 

In  order  that  nothing  shall  be  wasted,  the  Govern- 
ment decreed  this  year  that  the  public  should  be  allowed 
to  scavenge  the  fields  after  the  harvest  had  been 
gathered,  and  this  was  a  source  of  some  benefit  to  those 
residing  near  the  great  centres  of  population. 

Schoolmasters  were  also  ordered  to  teach  the  children 
the  need  of  gathering  every  sort  of  berry  and  nut. 

Passing  along  an  English  hedgerow  the  other  day, 
and  seeing  it  still  covered  with  withered  blackberries, 
I  compared  them  with  the  bare  brambles  which  I  saw 
in  Germany  from  which  all  berries  have  gone  to  help 
the  great  jam-making  business  which  is  to  eke  out  the 
gradually  decreasing  butter  and  margarine  supply. 
Sickness  and  death  have  resulted  from  mistakes  made, 
not  only  in  gathering  berries,  but  in  gathering  mush- 
rooms and  other  fungi,  which  have  been  keenly  sought. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  Germans  are  leaving  no 
stone  unturned  to  avoid  the  starvation  of  the  Seven 
Years'  War.  The  ingenuity  of  the  chemists  in  produc- 


152     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

ing  substitutes  was  never  greater.  One  of  the  most 
disagreeable  foods  I  have  tasted  was  bread  made  of 
straw.  Countless  experiments  have  been  made  in  the 
last  year  to  adapt  straw  to  the  human  stomach,  but 
although  something  resembling  bread  has  been  pro- 
duced, it  contains  almost  no  nourishment  and  results  in 
illness. 

People  who  reside  in  the  cities  and  carefully  shep- 
herded visiting  neutrals,  who  do  not  go  into  the  country, 
have  little  notion  of  the  terrific  effort  being  put  forward 
to  make  the  fruits  of  Mother  Earth  defeat  the  blockade, 
and  above  all  to  extract  any  kind  of  oil  from  anything 
that  grows. 

Here  is  one  notice: — 

How  THE  CIVIL  POPULATION  CAN  HELP  IN  THE  WAK. 

Our  enemies  are  trying  to  exhaust  us,  but  they 
cannot  succeed  if  every  one 

does  his  duty. 

OIL  is  a  Necessity. 

You  can  help  the  Fatherland  if  you  plant 

poppies,  castor  plant,  sunflowers. 
In  addition  to  doing  important  work  for 
the  Fatherland  you  benefit  yourself  be- 
cause the  price  for  oil  is  high. 

I  may  say  that  the  populace  have  responded.  Never 
have  I  seen  such  vast  fields  of  poppies,  sunflowers,  rape 
plant,  and  other  oleaginous  crops.  Oil  has  been  ex- 
tracted from  plum-stones,  cherry-stones,  and  walnuts. 

The  Government  have  not  pleased  the  people  even  in 
this  matter.  One  glorious  summer  day,  after  tramp- 
ing alone  the  sandy  roads  of  Southern  Brandenburg, 
I  came  to  a  little  red-brick  village  in  the  midst  of  its 


IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET       153 

sea  of  waving  rye  and  blaze  of  sunflowers  and  poppies. 
Taking  my  seat  at  the  long  table  in  front  of  the  local 
Gasihaus,  and  ordering  some  imitation  coffee — the  only 
refreshment  provided  in  the  absence  of  a  local  bread 
ticket — I  pointed  out  one  of  these  notices  to  the  only 
other  person  at  the  table,  who  was  drinking  some  "ex- 
traordinarily weak  beer,"  as  he  put  it.  "Have  the  peo- 
ple here  planted  much  of  these  things  I  see  on  that 
notice?"  I  asked,  pointing  to  one  of  the  placards. 
"Yes,"  he  said,  "certainly.  A  great  deal ;  but  the  Gov- 
ernment is  going  to  be  false  to  us  again.  It  will  be 
commandeered  at  a  price  which  they  have  already  set." 
Then  came  the  usual  string  of  grumbles  which  one  hears 
everywhere  in  the  agricultural  districts.  I  will  not 
repeat  them.  They  all  have  to  do  with  the  food  short- 
age, profiteering,  and  discontent  at  the  length  of  the 
war. 

Though  all  Germans,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
profiteers,  are  grumbling  at  the  length  of  the  war,  it 
must  not  be  supposed  that  they  have  lost  hope.  In  fact 
their  grumblings  are  punctuated  frequently  by  very 
bright  hopes.  When  Douaumont  fell,  food  troubles 
were  forgotten.  The  bells  rang,  the  flags  were  unfurled, 
faces  brightened,  crowds  gathered  before  the  maps  and 
discussed  the  early  fall  of  Verdun  and  the  collapse  of 
France.  Again  I  heard  on  every  hand  the  echo  of  the 
boasts  of  the  first  year  of  the  war. 

The  glorious  manner  in  which  France  hurled  back 
the  assault  was  making  itself  felt  in  Germany  with  a 
consequent  depression  over  food  shortage  when  the 
greatest  naval  victory  in  history — so  we  gathered,  at 
least,  from  the  first  German  reports — raised  the  spirits 


154    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

and  hopes  of  the  people  so  high  that  they  fully  believed 
that  the  blockade  had  been  smashed.  On  the  third  day 
of  the  celebration,  Saturday,  June  3rd,  I  rode  in  a  tram 
from  Wilmersdorf,  a  suburb  of  Berlin,  to  the  heart  of 
the  city  through  miles  of  streets  flaring  with  a  solid 
mass  of  colour.  From  nearly  every  window  and  bal- 
cony hung  pennants  and  flags;  on  every  trolley  pole 
fluttered  a  pennant  of  red,  white  and  black.  Even  the 
ancient  horse  'buses  rattled  through  the  streets  with  the 
flags  of  Germany  and  her  allies  on  each  corner  of  the 
roof.  The  newspapers  screamed  headlines  of  triumph, 
nobody  could  settle  down  to  business,  the  faces  one 
met  were  wreathed  in  smiles,  complaining  was  for- 
gotten, the  assurance  of  final  victory  was  in  the  very 
air. 

Unter  den  Linden,  the  decorations  on  which  were  so 
thick  that  in  many  cases  they  screened  the  buildings 
from  which  they  hung,  was  particularly  happy.  Knots 
of  excited  men  stood  discussing  the  defeat  of  the  British 
Fleet.  Two  American  friends  and  I  went  from  the 
street  of  happy  and  confident  talk  into  the  Zollernhof 
Eestaurant.  With  the  din  of  the  celebration  over  the 
"lifting  of  the  blockade"  ringing  in  our  ears  from  the 
street,  we  looked  on  the  bill  of  fare,  and  there,  for  the 
first  time,  we  saw  Boiled  Crow. 

Through  the  spring  and  early  summer  the  people 
were  officially  buoyed  up  with  the  hope  that  the  new 
harvest  would  make  an  end  of  their  troubles.  They 
had  many  reasons,  it  is  true,  to  expect  an  improvement. 
The  1915  harvest  in  Germany  had  fallen  below  the 
average.  Therefore,  if  the  1916  harvest  would  be  bet- 
ter per  acre,  the  additional  supplies  from  the  conquered 


IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  FLEET       155 

regions  of  Kussia  would  enable  Germany  to  laugh  at 
the  efforts  of  her  enemies  to  starve  her  out.  Once  more, 
however,  official  assurances  and  predictions  were  wrong, 
and  the  economic  condition  grew  worse  through  every 
month  of  1916. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

A   LAND   OF   SUBSTITUTES 

THE  only  food  substitute  which  meets  the  casual  eye 
of  the  visitor  to  England  in  war  time  is  margarine 
for  butter.  Germany,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  land  of 
substitutes.  t 

Since  the  war,  food  exhibitions  in  various  cities,  but 
more  especially  in  Berlin,  have  had  as  one  of  their  most 
prominent  features  booths  where  you  could  sample  sub- 
stitutes for  coffee,  yeast,  eggs,  butter,  olive  oil,  and  the 
like.  Undoubtedly  many  of  these  substitutes  are  des- 
tined to  take  their  place  in  the  future  alongside  some  of 
the  products  for  which  they  are  rendering  vicarious 
service.  In  fact,  in  a  "Proclamation  touching  the  Pro- 
tection of  Inventions,  Designs,  and  Trade  Marks  in  the 
Exhibition  of  Substitute-Materials  in  Berlin-Charlot- 
tenburg,  1916,"  it  is  provided  that  the  substitutes  to  be 
exhibited  shall  enjoy  the  protection  of  the  Law.  Even 
before  the  war,  substitutes  like  Kathreiner's  malt  coffee 
were  household  words,  whilst  the  roasting  of  acorns  for 
admixture  with  coffee  was  not  only  a  usual  practice  on 
the  part  of  some  families  in  the  lower  middle  class,  but 
was  so  generally  recognised  among  the  humbler  folk 
that  the  children  of  poor  families  were  given  special 
printed  permissions  by  the  police  to  gather  acorns  for 
the  purpose  on  the  sacred  grass  of  the  public  parks. 

To  deal  with  meat  which  in  other  countries  would 

156 


A  LAND  OF  SUBSTITUTES  157 

be  regarded  as  unfit  for  human  consumption  there  have 
long  been  special  appliances  in  regular  use  in  peace 
time.  The  so-called  Freibank  was  a  State  or  municipal 
butcher's  shop  attached  to  the  extensive  municipal 
abattoirs  in  Berlin,  Munich,  Cologne,  and  elsewhere. 
Here  tainted  meat,  or  meat  from  animals  locally 
affected  by  disease,  is  specially  treated  by  a  steam  pro- 
cess and  other  methods,  so  as  to  free  it  from  all  danger 
to  health.  Meat  so  treated  does  not,  of  course,  have  the 
nutritive  value  of  ordinary  fresh  meat,  but  the  Ger- 
mans acted  on  the  principle  that  anything  was  better 
than  nothing.  Such  meat  was  described  as  bedingt 
tauglicli  (that  is,  fit  for  consumption  under  reserve). 
It  was  sold  before  the  war  at  very  low  rates  to  the  poorer 
population,  who  in  times  of  scarcity  came  great  dis- 
tances and  kept  long  vigils  outside  the  Freibank,  to  be 
near  the  head  of  the  queue  when  the  sale  began.  Thus 
we  see  that  many  Germans  long  ago  acquired  the  habit 
of  standing  in  line  for  food,  which  is  such  a  characteris- 
tic of  German  city  life  to-day. 

Horseflesh  was  consumed  before  the  war  in  Germany, 
as  in  Belgium  and  France.  Its  sale  was  carefully  con- 
trolled by  the  police,  and  severe  punishment  fell  upon 
anyone  who  tried  to  disguise  its  character.  An  ordi- 
nary butcher  might  not  sell  it  at  all.  He  had  to  be 
specially  licensed,  and  to  maintain  a  special  establish- 
ment or  a  special  branch  of  his  business  for  the  purpose. 
Thus,  when  wider  circles  of  the  population  were  driven 
to  resort  to  substitutes,  there  was  already  in  existence 
a  State-organised  system  to  control  the  output. 

Since  the  war  began,  sausage  has  served  as  a  German 
stand-by  from  the  time  that  beef  and  pork  became  diffi- 


1 5  8     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

cult  to  obtain.  In  the  late  spring,  however,  the  in- 
creased demand  for  sausage  made  that  also  more 
difficut  to  procure,  and  we  often  got  a  substitute  full  of 
breadcrumbs,  which  made  the  food-value  of  this  par- 
ticular Wurst  considerably  less  than  its  size  would 
indicate.  It  was  frequently  so  soft  that  it  was  practi- 
cally impossible  to  cut,  and  we  had  to  spread  it  on  our 
bread  like  butter. 

The  substitute  of  which  the  world  has  read  the  most 
is  war  bread.  This  differs  in  various  localities,  but  it 
consists  chiefly  of  a  mixture  of  rye  and  potato  with  a 
little  wheat  flour.  In  Hungary,  which  is  a  great  maize- 
growing  country,  maize  is  substituted  for  rye. 

Imitation  tea  is  made  of  plum  and  other  leaves 
boiled  in  real  tea  and  dried. 

To  turn  to  substitutes  other  than  food,  it  will  be 
recalled  that  Germany  very  early  began  to  popularise 
the  use  of  benzol  as  an  alternative  to  petrol  for  motor 
engines.  This  was  a  natural  outgrowth  of  her  mar- 
vellously developed  coal-tar  industry,  of  which  benzol 
is  a  product.  Prizes  for  the  most  effective  benzol- 
consuming  engine,  for  benzol  carburettors,  etc.,  have 
been  offered  by  various  official  departments  in  recent 
years,  and  I  am  told  that  during  the  war  ingenious  in- 
ventions for  the  more  satisfactory  employment  of  benzol 
have  been  adopted.  Owing  to  the  increased  use  of  pota- 
toes as  food,  the  alcoholic  extract  from  them,  always  a 
great  German  and  Austro-Hungarian  industry,  has  had 
to  be  restricted. 

It  is  an  ill  wind  that  blows  nobody  good,  as  I  learned 
from  the  owner  of  a  little  general  shop  in  a  Branden- 
burg village.  He  told  me  that  about  twenty-five  years 


A  LAND  OF  SUBSTITUTES  159 

ago,  when  kerosene  became  widely  used  in  the  village 
for  illuminating  purposes,  he  was  left  with  a  tremendous 
supply  of  candles  which  he  could  never  sell.  The  oil 
famine  has  caused  the  substitution  of  candle  light  for 
lamp  light  during  the  war,  and  has  enabled  him  to  sell 
out  the  whole  stock  at  inflated  prices.  All  oils  are  at  a 
premium.  The  price  of  castor-oil  has  risen  fivefold  in 
Germany,  chiefly  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  is  being 
extensively  used  for  aeroplane  and  other  lubrication 
purposes. 

But  it  is  oil  from  which  explosives  are  derived  that 
chiefly  interests  Germany.  Almost  any  kind  of  fruit 
stone  contains  glycerine.  That  is  why  notices  have 
been  put  on  all  trains  which  run  through  fruit  districts, 
such  as  Werder,  near  Berlin,  and  Baden,  advising  the 
people  to  save  their  fruit  stones  and  bring  them  to 
special  depots  for  collection. 

Five  pounds  of  fat  treated  with  caustic  soda  can  be 
made  to  yield  one  pound  of  glycerine.  This  is  one 
reason,  in  addition  to  the  British  blockade,  which  causes 
the  great  fat  shortage  among  the  civil  population. 

Glycerine  united  with  ammonium  nitrate  is  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  explosives.  Deprived  of  nitrogenous 
material  from  South  America,  Germany  has  greatly 
developed  the  process  for  the  manufacture  of  artificial 
nitrates.  She  spent  £25,000,000  after  the  outbreak  of 
war  to  enable  her  chemists  and  engineers  to  turn  out  a 
sufficient  amount  of  nitric  acid. 

Toluol,  a  very  important  ingredient  of  explosives,  is 
obtained  from  coal-tar,  which\  Germany  is  naturally 
able  to  manufacture  at  present  better  than  any  other 
country  in  the  world,  since  she  had  practically  a  mon- 


1 60    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

opoly  in  coal-tar  products  before  hostilities  commenced. 

Evidently,  however,  substitutes  to  reinforce  goods 
smuggled  through  the  blockade  have  not  sufficed  to  meet 
the  chemical  demands  of  the  German  Government,  for 
great  flaming  placards  were  posted  up  all  over  the  Em- 
pire announcing  the  commandeering  of  such  commodi- 
ties as  sulphur,  sulphuric  acid,  toluol,  saltpetre,  and  the 
like. 

Germany  long  ago  claimed  to  have  perfected  wood- 
pulp  as  a  substitute  for  cotton  in  propulsive  ammuni- 
tion. She  made  this  claim  very  early,  however,  for  the 
(purpose  of  hoodwinking  British  blockade  advocates. 
Her  great  need  eventually  led  her  to  take  steps  to  induce 
the  United  States  to  insist  on  the  Entente  Powers  rais- 
ing the  blockade  on  cotton.  She  went  to  great  trouble 
and  expense  to  send  samples  by  special  means  to  her 
agents  in  America. 

The  cotton  shortage  began  to  be  seriously  felt  early  in 
1916  in  the  manufacturing  districts  of  Saxony,  where 
so  many  operatives  were  suddenly  thrown  out  of  work 
that  the  Government  had  to  set  aside  a  special  fund  for 
their  temporary  relief,  until  they  could  be  transferred  to 
other  war  industries. 

*  The  success  which  Germany  claimed  for  a  cotton- 
cloth  substitute  has  been  greatly  exaggerated.  When 
the  Germans  realised  that  Great  Britain  really  meant 
business  on  the  question  of  cotton  they  cultivated  nettle 
and  willow  fibre,  and  made  a  cloth  consisting  for  the 
most  part  of  nettle  or  willow  fibre  with  a  small  propor- 
tion of  cotton  or  wool. 

It  was  boasted  in  many  quarters  that  the  exclusion 
of  cotton  would  make  but  little  difference  so  far  as 


A  LAND  OF  SUBSTITUTES          161 

clothing  was  concerned.  !Not  only  does  the  universal 
introduction  of  clothing  tickets  falsify  this  boast,  but 
the  cloth  is  found  to  be  a  mere  makeshift  when  tested. 
Blouses  and  stockings  wear  out  with  discouraging  rapid- 
ity when  made  of  the  substitute. 

My  personal  investigations  still  lead  me  to  believe 
in  the  motto  of  the  Sunny  South  that :  "Cotton  is  king." 

Paper,  although  running  short  in  Germany,  is  the 
substitute  for  cloth  in  many  cases.  Sacking,  formerly 
used  for  making  bags  in  which  to  ship  potatoes  and 
other  vegetables,  has  given  way  to  it.  Paper-string  is 
a  good  substitute  widely  used,  although  "no  string"  was 
the  verbal  substitute  I  often  got  when  buying  various 
articles,  and  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  hold  the  paper 
on  to  the  parcel  with  my  hands. 

The  craze  for  substitutes  has  spread  so  extensively 
that  there  have  been  some  unpleasant  results  both  for 
the  purchaser  and  the  producer,  as  was  the  case  with 
several  bakers,  who  were  finally  detected  and  convicted 
of  a  liberal  use  of  sawdust  in  their  cakes. 

Germany  has  worked  especially  hard  to  find  a  sub- 
stitute for  indiarubber,  though  with  only  moderate 
success.  I  know  that  the  Kaiser's  Government  is  still 
sending  men  into  contiguous  neutral  countries  to  buy  up 
every  scrap  of  rubber  obtainable.  In  no  other  com- 
modity has  there  been  more  relentless  commandeering. 
When  bicycle  tyres  were  commandeered — the  authori- 
ties deciding  that  three  marks  was  the  proper  price  to 
pay  for  a  new  pair  of  tyres  which  had  cost  ten — there 
was  a  great  deal  of  complaining.  Nevertheless,  without 
an  excellent  reason,  no  German  could  securi  the  police 
pass  necessary  to  allow  him  to  ride  a  bicycle.  Those 


1 62     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

who  did  obtain  permission  to  ride  to  and  from  their 
work  had  to  select  the  shortest  route,  and  "joy-riding" 
was  forbidden. 

"Substitute  rubber"  heels  for  boots  could  be  readily 
obtained  until  the  late  summer,  but  after  that  only  with 
difficulty.  They  were  practically  worthless,  as  I  know 
from  personal  experience,  and  were  as  hard  as  leather 
after  one  or  two  days'  use. 

Despite  the  rubber  shortage,  the  Lower  Saxon  Rubber 
Company,  of  Hildersheim,  does  a  thriving  business  in 
raincoats  made  from  rubber  substitutes.  The  factory 
is  running  almost  full  blast,  all  the  work  being  done  by 
women,  and  the  finished  product  is  a  tribute  to  the  skill 
of  those  in  charge. 

It  is  impossible  to  buy  a  real  tennis  ball  in  the  Ger- 
man Empire  to-day.  A  most  hopeless  makeshift  ball 
has  been  put  on  the  market,  but  after  a  few  minutes' 
play  it  no  longer  keeps  its  shape  or  resiliency. 

Germany  has  been  very  successful  in  the  substitution 
of  a  sort  of  enamelled-iron  for  aluminium,  brass,  and 
copper.  Some  of  the  Rhenish- Westphalian  iron  indus- 
tries have  made  enormous  war  profits,  supplying  iron 
chandeliers,  stove  doors,  pots  and  pans,  and  other 
articles  formerly  made  of  brass  to  take  the  place  of 
those  commandeered  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the 
Army  with  much-needed  metals. 

For  copper  used  in  electrical  and  other  industries 
she  claims  to  have  devised  substitutes  before  the  war, 
and  her  experts  now  assert  that  a  two-years'  supply  of 
copper  and  brass  has  been  gathered  from  the  kitchens 
and  roofs  of  Germany.  The  copper  quest  has  assumed 
such  proportions  that  the  roof  of  the  historic,  world- 


A  LAND  OF  SUBSTITUTES  163 

renowned  Rathaus  at  Bremen  has  been  stripped.  Nearly 
half  the  church  bells  of  Austria  have  found  their  way 
to  the  great  Skoda  Works. 

Of  course  Germans  never  boast  of  the  priceless  orna- 
ments they  have  stolen  from  Belgium  and  Northern 
France.  They  joyfully  claim  that  every  pound  of  cop- 
per made  available  at  home  diminishes  the  amount 
which  they  must  import  from  abroad,  and  pay  for  with 
their  cherished  gold. 

The  authorities  delight  in  telling  the  neutral  visitors 
that  they  have  found  adequate  substitutes  for  nickel, 
chromium,  and  vanadium  for  the  hardening  of  steel.  If 
that  is  really  so,  why  does  the  Deutschland's  cargo  con- 
sist mainly  of  these  three  commodities  ? 


CHAPTEK  XIV 

THE  GAGGING  OF  LIEBKNECHT 

ALTHOUGH  Bismarck  gave  the  Germans  a  Constitu- 
tion and  a  Parliament  after  the  Franco-Prussian 
War  as  a  sop  for  their  sacrifices  in  that  campaign,  he 
never  intended  the  Reichstag  to  be  a  Parliament  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  institution  is  understood  in  Great 
Britain. 

What  Bismarck  gave  the  Germans  was  a  debating  so- 
ciety and  a  safety-valve.  They  needed  a  place  to  air 
their  theories  and  ventilate  their  grievances.  But  the 
Chancellor  of  Iron  was  very  careful,  in  drawing  up  the 
plans  for  the  "debating  society,"  to  see  that  it  con- 
ferred little  more  real  power  on  the  nation's  "represen- 
tatives" than  is  enjoyed  by  the  stump-speakers  near 
Marble  Arch  in  London  on  Sundays. 

Many  people  in  England  and  the  United  States  of 
America,  I  find,  do  not  at  all  understand  the  meaning- 
lessness  of  German  Parliamentary  proceedings.  When 
they  read  about  "stormy  sittings"  of  the  Reichstag  and 
"bitter  criticism"  of  the  Chancellor,  they  judge  such 
things  as  they  judge  similar  events  in  the  House  of 
Commons  or  the  American  House  of  Representatives. 
Nothing  could  be  more  inaccurate.  Governments  do 
not  fall  in  Germany  in  consequence  of  adverse  Reich- 
stag votes,  as  they  do  in  England.  They  are  not  the 
people's  Governments,  but  merely  the  Kaiser's  crea- 
tures. They  rise  and  fall  by  his  grace  alone. 

164 


THE  GAGGING  OF  LIEBKNECHT    165 

Even  this  state  of  affairs  needs  to  be  qualified  and 
explained  to  the  citizens  of  free  countries.  The  Gov- 
ernment is  not  a  Cabinet  or  a  Ministry. 

The  German  Government  is  a  one-man  affair.  It 
consists  of  the  Imperial  Chancellor.  He,  and  nobody 
else,  is  the  "Government,"  subject  only  to  the  All- 
Highest  will  of  the  Emperor,  whose  bidding  the  Chan- 
cellor is  required  to  do. 

The  Chancellor,  in  the  name  of  the  "Government," 
brings  in  Bills  to  be  passed  by  the  Reichstag.  If  the 
Reichstag  does  not  like  a  Bill,  which  sometimes  hap- 
pens, it  refuses  to  give  it  a  majority.  But  the  "Gov- 
ernment" does  not  fall.  It  can  simply,  as  it  has  done 
on  numerous  occasions,  dissolve  the  Reichstag,  order  a 
General  Election,  and  keep  on  doing  so  indefinitely, 
until  it  gets  exactly  the  kind  of  "Parliament"  it  wants. 
Thus,  though  the  Reichstag  votes  on  financial  matters, 
it  can  be  made  to  vote  as  the  "Government"  wishes. 

As  I  have  said,  the  Reichstag  was  invented  to  be,  and 
has  always  served  the  purpose  hitherto  of,  a  forum  in 
which  discontented  Germany  could  blow  off  steam,  but 
achieve  little  in  the  way  of  remedy  or  reform.  But 
during  the  war  the  Reichstag  has  even  ceased  to  be  a 
place  where  free  speech  is  tolerated.  It  has  been  gagged 
as  effectually  as  the  German  Press.  I  was  an  eye- 
witness of  one  of  the  most  drastic  muzzling  episodes 
which  has  occurred  in  the  Reichstag  during  the  war — 
or  probably  in  the  history  of  any  modern  Parliament — 
the  suppression  of  Dr.  Karl  Liebknecht,  member  for 
Potsdam,  during  the  debate  on  military  affairs  on  Jan- 
uary 17,  1916.  That  event  will  be  of  historic  im- 
portance in  establishing  how  public  opinion  in  Germany 


1 66     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

during  the  war  has  been  ruthlessly  trampled  under  foot. 

The  Reichstag  has  practically  nothing  to  do  with  the 
conduct  of  the  war. 

Up,  practically,  to  the  beginning  of  1916  the  sporadic 
Social  Democratic  opposition  to  the  war,  mainly  by  Dr. 
Liebknecht,  was  ignored  by  the  Government.  The  war- 
machine  was  running  so  smoothly,  and,  from  the  Ger- 
man standpoint,  so  victoriously,  that  the  Government 
thought  it  could  safely  let  Liebknecht  rant  to  his  heart's 
content. 

Dr.  Liebknecht  had  long  been  a  thorn  in  the  War 
Party's  side.  He  inherited  an  animosity  to  Prussian 
militarism  from  his  late  father,  Dr.  Wilhelm  Lieb- 
knecht, who  with  August  Bebel  founded  the  modern 
German  Social  Democratic  Party.  Four  or  five  years 
before  the  war  Liebknecht,  a  lawyer  by  profession,  cam- 
paigned so  fiercely  against  militarism  that  he  was 
sentenced  to  eighteen  months'  fortress  imprisonment 
for  "sedition."  He  served  his  sentence,  and  soon  after- 
wards his  political  friends  nominated  him  for  the 
Reichstag  for  the  Royal  Division  of  Potsdam,  of  all 
places  in  the  world,  knowing  that  such  a  candidature 
would  be  as  ironical  a  blow  as  could  be  dealt  to  the  war 
aristocrats.  He  was  elected  by  a  big  majority  in  1912, 
the  votes  of  the  large  working-class  population  of  the 
division,  including  Spandau  (the  Prussian  Woolwich), 
being  more  than  enough  to  offset  the  military  vote  which 
the  Kaiser's  henchmen  mobilised  against  him.  Some 
time  afterwards  Liebknecht  was  also  elected  to  represent 
a  Berlin  Labour  constituency  in  the  Prussian  Diet,  the 
Legislature  which  deals  with  the  affairs  in  the  Kingdom 
of  Prussia,  as  distinct  from  the  Reichstag  (the  Imperial 


THE  GAGGING  OF  LIEBKNECHT    167 

Diet),    which   concerns    itself    with    Empire    matters 
only. 

Dr.  Liebknecht  is  forty-four  years  old.  Of  medium 
build,  he  wears  a  shock  of  long,  curly,  upstanding  hair, 
which  rather  accentuates  his  "agitator"  type  of 
countenance,  and  is  a  skilful  and  eloquent  debater.  A 
university  graduate  and  well-read  thinker  and  student, 
he  turned  out  to  be  the  one  consistent  Social  Demo- 
cratic politician  in  Germany  on  the  question  of  the  war. 
When  the  war  began  the  Socialist  Party  was  effectually 
and  willingly  tied  to  the  Government's  chariot — includ- 
ing, nominally,  even  Liebknecht.  A  few  hours  before 
making  his  notorious  "Necessity-knows-no-law"  speech 
in  Ihe  Reichstag  on  August  4,  1914,  Bethmann-Iiollweg 
conferred  with  all  the  Parliamentary  parties,  and  con- 
vinced them  (including  the  Socialists)  that  Germany 
had  been  cruelly  dragged  into  a  war  of  defence.  Later 
in  the  day,  following  other  party  leaders,  Herr  Haase, 
spokesman  for  the  Socialists,  got  up  in  the  House, 
voiced  a  few  harmless  platitudes  about  Socialist  opposi- 
tion to  war  on  principle,  and  then  pledged  the  party's 
111  votes  solidly  to  the  War  Credits  for  which  the  Gov- 
ernment was  asking.  When  the  Chancellor  afterwards 
made  his  celebrated  speech  it  was  cheered  to  the  echo  by 
the  entire  House,  including  the  Socialists.  I  do  not 
know  whether  Liebknecht  was  present,  though  he  is 
almost  certain  to  have  been,  but  if  so  he  made  no  note- 
worthy protest.  How  completely  the  Government 
befooled  the  Socialists  about  the  war  was  proved  a  few 
days  later  when  Dr.  Franck,  one  of  the  Social  Dem- 
ocracy's most  shining  lights  and  the  man  who  was  in 
line  to  be  Bebel's  successor,  volunteered  for  military 


1 68     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

service.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  fall  fighting  in  Sep- 
tember, somewhere  in  the  West. 

The  authorities  might  have  known  that  Liebknecht 
was  a  hard  man  to  keep  quiet  if  he  ever  decided  to  speak 
out.  Fresh  in  the  Government's  mind  was  his  bold 
exposure  of  the  Krupp  bribery  scandals  at  the  War 
Office  (in  1913)  and  his  disclosures  about  how  the 
German  munition  trust  for  years  systematically  stirred 
up  war  fever  abroad,  in  order  to  convince  the  German 
people  of  the  necessity  of  speeding  up  their  own  huge 
armaments  on  land  and  sea.  As  soon  as  Liebknecht's 
Reichstag  and  Prussian  Diet  speeches  began  to  show 
that  he  was  tired  of  the  muzzle,  the  Government  called 
him  up  for  military  service.  They  stuck  him  into  the 
uniform  of  an  Armierungssoldat  (Army  Service  Corps 
soldier).  This  meant  that  his  public  speeches  in  con- 
nection with  the  war  had  to  be  confined  to  the  two 
Parliaments  in  which  he  held  seats.  Anything  of  an 
opposition  character  which  he  said  or  did  outside  would 
be  "treason"  or  "sedition." 

Liebknecht  was  put  to  work  on  A.S.C.  jobs  behind  the 
fronts  alternately  in  the  East  and  West,  I  believe,  but 
was  given  leaves  of  absence  to  attend  to  his  Parlia- 
mentary duties  from  time  to  time.  On  these  occasions 
he  would  appear  in  the  Reichstag  in  the  dull  field-grey 
of  an  ordinary  private — the  only  member  so  clad  in  a 
House  of  397  Deputies,  among  whom  are  dozens  of 
officers  in  uniform  up  to  the  rank  of  generals. 

I  was  particularly  fortunate  to  be  able  to  secure  a 
card  of  admission  to  the  Strangers'  Gallery  of  the 
Reichstag  on  January  17,  the  day  set  for  discussion  of 
military  matters.  I  went  to  my  place  early — a  few 


THE  GAGGING  OF  LIEBKNECHT    169 

minutes  past  the  noon  hour,  as  the  Reichstag  usually 
convenes  at  1  p.m.  The  floor  was  still  quite  empty, 
though  the  galleries  were  filled  with  people  anxious,  like 
myself,  to  see  the  show  from  start  to  finish. 

The  Reichstag's  decorative  scheme  is  panelled  oak 
and  gilt-paint.  The  members'  seating  space  spreads 
fanlike  round  the  floor,  with  individual  seats  and  desks 
exactly  like  those  used  by  schoolboys,  which  is  not  an 
inappropriate  simile.  On  the  extreme  right  are  the 
places  of  the  Conservative-Junker — landowners — 
Party ;  to  their  left  sit,  in  succession,  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Clericals  (who  occupy  the  exact  centre  of  the  floor 
and  are  thus  known  as  the  Zentrum,  or  Centre  Party). 
The  "Centre"  includes  many  priests,  mostly  Rhine- 
landers  and  Bavarians.  Then  come  the  National 
Liberals,  the  violently  anti-British  and  anti-American 
Party,  the  Progressive  People's  Party,  and  the  Social 
Democrats.  The  latter  are  on  the  "extreme  left."  That 
is  why  they  are  often  so  described  in  reports  of  Reich- 
stag proceedings  abroad.  The  Socialists  comprise  111 
out  of  397  members  of  the  House,  so  their  segment  of 
the  fan  is  the  largest  of  all.  Next  in  size  is  the  Centre 
Party,  with  eighty-five  or  ninety  seats,  the  Conserva- 
tives, National  Liberals,  and  Progressives  accounting 
for  the  rest  of  the  floor  in  more  or  less  equal  propor- 
tions. 

The  outstanding  aspect  of  the  Reichstag  is  the 
tribune  for  speakers,  which  faces  the  floor  and  is  ele- 
vated above  it  some  five  or  six  feet.  It  is  flanked  on  the 
right  by  the  Government  "table,"  consisting  of  indi- 
vidual seats  and  desks  for  Ministers.  In  the  centre  of 
the  tribune  the  presiding  officer,  who  is  "President,"  not 


1 70    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Speaker,  of  the  House,  sits.  On  his  left  is  a  row  of 
seats  and  desks,  like  the  opposite  Government  "table," 
for  the  members  of  the  Federal  Council.  The  Federal 
Council,  I  may  remind  my  readers,  consists  of  the 
delegates  of  the  various  States  of  Germany.  They  are 
not  elected  by  the  people,  but  are  appointed  by  the  rulers 
of  the  several  States.  They  constitute  practically  an 
Imperial  Upper  Chamber,  and  are  the  real  legislative 
body  of  the  Empire.  Bills  require  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil's approval  before  submission  to  the  Reichstag. 

On  so-called  "big  days"  in  the  Reichstag  a  host  of 
small  fry  from  the  Departments  collects  behind  the  Gov- 
ernment and  this  dominent  Federal  Council.  The 
Chancellor,  whose  place  is  at  the  corner  of  the  Govern- 
ment "table"  nearest  the  President,  is  always  shep- 
herded by  his  political  aide-de-camp,  Dr.  Wahnschaffe. 
There  is  always  a  group  of  uniformed  Army  and  Navy 
officers  on  the  tribune,  too,  and  to-day,  of  course,  as  the 
Army  discussions  were  on  the  agenda,  there  was  an 
unusually  brave  array  of  gold  braid  and  brass  buttons. 
Herr  von  Oldenburg,  a  prominent  Junker  M.P.,  once 
said  if  he  were  the  Kaiser  he  would  send  a  Prussian 
lieutenant  and  ten  men  to  close  up  the  Reichstag. 

Liebknecht  arrived  early,  a  slight  and  unimpressive 
figure  in  somewhat  worn  field-grey,  the  German  khaki. 
The  "debate"  having  begun,  I  noticed  how  he  listened 
eagerly  to  every  word  spoken,  jotting  down  notes  in- 
cessantly for  the  evident  purpose  of  replying  to  the 
grandiloquent  utterances  about  our  "glorious  army  of 
-ZTwZ^wr-bearers"  which  were  falling  from  the  lips  of 
"patriotic"  party  orators.  Liebknecht  had  earned  the 
displeasure  of  the  House  a  few  days  before  by  asking 


THE  GAGGING  OF  LIEBKNECHT    171 

some  embarrassing  questions  about  Turkish  massacres 
in  Armenia.  He  was  jerred  and  laughed  at  hilariously 
when  he  went  on  to  say  that  a  "Black  Chamber"  was 
spying  on  his  every  movement,  shadowing  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Reichstag,  even  eavesdropping  on  their  tele- 
phone conversations  and  opening  their  private  corre- 
spondence. 

While  a  Socialist  comrade,  Herr  Davidssohn,  was 
speaking  from  the  desk  in  the  centre  of  the  tribune,  at 
which  all  members  must  stand  when  addressing  the 
House,  I  now  saw  Liebknecht  walking  up  the  aisle 
leading  from  the  Socialist  seats  to  the  President's  chair 
as  unobtrusively  as  possible.  He  was  walking  furtively 
and  he  cut  the  figure  of  a  hunted  animal  which  is  con- 
scious that  it  is  surrounded  by  other  animals  anxious 
to  pounce  upon  it  and  devour  it  if  it  dares  to  show  itself 
in  the  open. 

Liebknecht  has  now  reached  the  President's  side. 
The  President,  a  long-whiskered  septuagenarian,  is  pop- 
ularly known  as  "Papa"  Kaempf.  I  see  Liebknecht 
whispering  quietly  in  Kaempf's  ear.  He  is  asking  for 
permission  to  speak,  probably  as  soon  as  comrade 
Davidssohn  has  finished  making  his  innocuous  sugges- 
tions of  minor  reforms  to  relieve  discomforts  in  the 
trenches.  Kaempf  is  shaking  his  head  negatively.  As 
the  official  executor  of  the  House's  wishes,  the  old  man 
understands  perfectly  well  that  Liebknecht  must  under 
no  circumstances  have  a  hearing.  Davidssohn  has  now 
stopped  talking.  Liebknecht  has  meantime  reached  the 
bottom  step  of  the  stairway  of  five  or  six  steps  leading 
from  the  tribune  to  the  level  of  the  floor.  He  can  be 
plainly  seen  from  all  sections  of  the  House.  I  hear  him 


1 72     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

start  to  say  that  he  has  a  double  right  to  be  heard  on 
the  Army  Bill,  not  only  as  a  member  of  the  House,  but 
as  a  soldier.  He  gets  no  further.  The  Chamber  is 
already  filled  with  shouts  and  jeers.  "Maul  lialten!" 
(shut  your  mouth!)  bursts  from  a  dozen  places  in  the 
Conservative  and  National  Liberal  and  Centre  benches. 
"Raus  mit  ihm!"  (throw  him  out!)  is  another  angry 
taunt  which  I  can  distinguish  in  the  bedlam.  Lieb- 
knecht  has  been  howled  down  many  times  before  under 
similar  circumstances.  He  is  not  terrified  to-day, 
though  his  face  is  pale  with  excitement  and  anger.  He 
stands  his  ground.  His  right  arm  is  extended,  a  finger 
levelled  accusingly  at  the  Right  and  Centre  from  which 
imprecations,  unceasingly,  are  being  snarled  at  him. 
But  he  cannot  make  himself  heard  amid  the 
uproar. 

A  Socialist  colleague  intervenes,  Ledebour,  a  thin, 
grey-haired,  actor-like  person,  of  ascetic  mien  and  reso- 
nant voice.  "Checking  free  speech  is  an  evil  custom 
of  this  House,"  declares  Ledebour.  "Papa"  Kaempf 
clangs  his  big  hand-bell.  He  rules  out  "such  improper 
expressions  as  'evil  custom'  in  this  high  House."  Lede- 
bour is  the  Reichstag's  master  of  repartee.  He  rejoins 
smilingly: — "Very  well,  not  an  'evil  custom,'  but  not 
altogether  a  pleasant  custom."  l^ow  the  House  is  howl- 
ing Ledebour  down.  He,  too,  has  weathered  such 
storms  before.  He  waits,  impassive  and  undismayed, 
for  a  lull  in  the  cyclone.  It  comes.  "Wait,  wait !"  he 
thunders.  "My  friend  Liebknecht  and  I,  and  others  like 
us,  have  a  great  following.  You  grievously  underes- 
timate that  following.  Some  day  you  will  realise  that. 
Wait "  Ledebour,  like  Liebknecht,  can  no  longer 


THE  GAGGING  OF  LIEBKNECHT    i?3 

proceed.  The  House  is  now  boiling,  an  indistinguish- 
able and  most  undignified  pandemonium.  I  can  detect 
that  there  is  considerable  ironical  laughter  mixed  with 
its  indignation.  Members  are  not  taking  Ledebour's 
threat  seriously. 

Liebknecht  has  temporarily  returned  to  his  seat 
under  cover  of  the  tornado  provoked  by  Ledebour's  in- 
tervention, but  now  I  see  him  stealthily  crawling,  dodg- 
ing, almost  panther-like,  back  to  the  steps  of  the  tribune. 
He  is  bent  upon  renewing  the  attempt  to  raise  his  voice 
above  the  hostile  din.  The  sight  of  him  unchains  the 
House's  fury  afresh.  The  racket  is  increased  by  the 
mad  ding-donging  of  "Papa"  Kaempf,  trying  hopelessly 
to  restore  a  semblance  of  quiet.  It  is  useless.  The 
House  will  not  subside  until  Liebknecht  is  driven  from 
the  speakers'  tribune.  He  is  not  to  have  even  the  chance 
of  the  lull  which  enabled  Ledebour  to  say  a  pertinent 
thing  or  two.  A  score  of  embittered  deputies  advance 
toward  the  tribune,  red-faced  and  gesticulating  in  the 
German  way  when  excitement  is  the  dominant  passion. 
Their  fists  are  clenched.  I  say  to  myself  that  Lieb- 
knecht will  this  time  be  beaten  down,  if  he  is  not  con- 
tent to  be  shouted  down.  He  makes  an  unforgettable 
figure,  alone  there,  assailed,  barked  and  snarled  at  from 
every  side,  a  private  in  the  German  Army  bidding 
defiance  to  a  hundred  men,  also  in  uniform,  but  superior 
officers.  Mere  Kanonenfutter  (cannon  fodder)  defying 
the  majestic  authority  of  its  helmeted  and  epauletted 
overlords !  An  unprecedented  episode,  as  well  as  an  un- 
forgettable one.  .  . 

Liebknecht  insists  upon  tempting  fate  once  more.  He 
is  going  to  try  to  outshout  the  crazy  chorus  howling 


at  him.  He  succeeds,  but  only  for  an  instant  and  to  the 
extent  of  one  biting  phrase : — "Such  treatment,"  I  can 
hear  him  shrieking,  "is  unverschaemt  (shameless)  and 
unerhoert  (unheard  of)  !  It  could  take  place  in  no 
other  legislative  body  in  the  world !" 

With  that  the  one  German  Social  Democrat  of  con- 
viction, courage,  and  consistency  retires,  baffled  and  dis- 
comfited. Potsdam's  representative  in  the  Reichstag  is 
at  last  effectually  muzzled,  but  in  the  muzzling  I  have 
seen  the  German  Government  at  work  on  a  task  almost 
as  prodigious  as  the  one  it  now  faces  on  the  Somme — 
the  task  of  keeping  the  German  people  deaf,  dumb,  and 
blind. 

Of  what  has  meantime  happened  to  Liebknecht  the 
main  facts  are  known.  He  was  arrested  on  May  1  for 
alleged  "incitement  to  public  disorder  during  a  state  of 
war,"  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  penal  servitude. 
A  couple  of  months  previously  (on  March  13)  he  had 
delivered  another  bitter  attack  on  the  War  Government 
in  the  Prussian  Diet.  He  accused  the  German  educa- 
tional authorities  of  systematically  teaching  hate  to 
school  children  and  of  distorting  even  contemporary  his- 
tory so  as  to  poison  their  minds  to  the  glorification  of 
Prussian  militarism.  He  said  it  was  not  the  business 
of  the  schools  to  turn  children  into  machines  for  the 
Moloch  of  militarism. 

"Let  us  teach  history  correctly"  declared  Liebknecht, 
"and  tell  the  children  that  the  crime  of  Sarajevo  was 
looked  upon  by  wide  circles  in  Austria-Hungary  and 
Germany  as  a  gift  from  Heaven.  Let  us " 

He  got  no  farther,  for  the  cyclone  broke.  He  had 
dared  to  do  what  no  other  man  in  Germany  had  done. 


THE  GAGGING  OF  LIEBKNECHT    175 

He  had  publicly  accused  his  Government  of  making  the 
war.    From  that  moment  his  doom  was  certain. 

This  narrative  should  be  instructive  to  those  Brit- 
ishers and  Americans  who  think  it  possible  that  German 
Socialists  may  one  day  have  the  power  to  end  the  war. 
There  are  two  effective  replies  to  this  curious  Anglo- 
Saxon  misunderstanding  of  Germany.  The  first  is  that 
Liebknecht  had  not,  and  has  not,  the  support  of  his  own 
party ;  the  second,  that  were  that  party  twice  as  numer- 
ous as  it  is  its  votes  would  be  worthless  in  view  of  the 
power  wielded  by  the  Kaiser's  representative,  von 
Bethmann-Hollweg,  backed  up  by  the  Federal  Council. 

It  is  difficult  to  drive  this  fact  into  the  heads  of 
British  and  American  people,  who  are  both  prone  to 
judge  German  institutions  by  their  own. 

For,  remember  always  that  behind  the  dominant 
Imperial  Chancellor,  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  stands 
the  All-Highest  War  Lord,  and  behind  him,  what  is  still, 
if  damaged,  the  mightiest  military  machine  in  the  world 
— the  German  Army.  Opposed  to  that  there  is  at 
present  a  slowly  increasing  Socialist  vote — the  two  have 
grown  to  about  twenty. 


CHAPTER  XV 

PREVENTIVE   ARREST 

IN  the  beginning  of  the  war,  when  all  seemed  to  be 
going  well,  there  was  no  disunity  in  Germany. 
When  Germany  was  winning  victory  after  victory,  prac- 
tically no  censorship  was  needed  in  the  newspapers ;  the 
police  were  tolerant;  every  German  smiled  upon  every 
other  German;  soldiers  went  forth  singing  and  their 
trains  were  gaily  decorated  with  oak  leaves;  social  de- 
mocracy praised  militarism. 

All  that  has  changed  and  the  hosts  who  went  singing 
on  their  way  in  the  belief  that  they  would  be  home  in 
six  weeks,  have  left  behind  homes  many  of  them  be- 
reaved by  the  immense  casualties,  and  most  of  them 
suffering  from  the  increased  food  shortage. 

Class  feeling  soon  increased.  The  poor  began  to 
call  the  rich  agrarians  "usurers."  The  Government 
forbade  socialistic  papers  such  as  the  Vorwaerts  to  use 
the  word  "usurer"  any  more,  because  it  was  applied  to 
the  powerful  junkers.  Such  papers  as  the  Tdgliche 
Rundschau  and  the  Tageszeitung  could  continue  to  use 
it,  however,  for  they  applied  it  to  the  small  shopkeeper 
who  exceeded  the  maximum  price  by  a  fraction  of  a 
penny. 

As  the  rigour  of  the  blockade  increased,  the  discon- 
tent of  the  small  minority  who  were  beginning  to  hate 
their  own  Government  almost  as  much  as,  and  in  many 

176 


PREVENTIVE  ARREST  177 

cases  more,  than  they  hated  enemies  of  Germany,  as- 
sumed more  threatening  forms  than  mere  discussion. 
Their  disillusionment  regarding  Germany's  invincibil- 
ity opened  their  eyes  to  faults  at  home.  Some  of  the 
extreme  Social  Democrats  were  secretly  spreading  the 
treasonable  doctrine  that  the  German  Government  was 
not  entirely  blameless  in  the  causes  of  the  war.  It  has 
been  my  custom  to  converse  with  all  classes  of  society, 
and  I  was  amazed  at  the  increasing  number  of  dis- 
gruntled citizens. 

But  the  German  Government  is  still  determined  to 
have  unity.  They  had  enlisted  the  services  of  editors, 
reporters,  professors,  parsons  and  cinema  operators  to 
create  it ;  they  are  now  giving  the  police  an  increasingly 
important  role  to  maintain  it. 

As  the  German  Parliament  in  no  way  resembles  the 
British  Parliament,  so  do  the  German  police  in  no  way 
resemble  the  British  police.  The  German  police, 
mounted  or  unmounted,  are  armed  with  a  revolver,  a 
sword,  and  not  infrequently  provided  with  a  machine- 
gun.  They  have  powers  of  search  and  arrest  without 
warrant.  They  are  allowed  at  their  discretion  to  strike 
or  otherwise  maltreat  not  only  civilians,  but  soldiers. 
Always  armed  with  extraordinary  power,  their  position 
during  the  past  few  months  has  risen  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  words  used  in  the  Reichstag,  "The  Reign  of 
Terror,"  are  not  an  exaggeration. 

Aided  and  even  abetted  by  a  myriad  of  spies  and 
agents-provocateurs,  they  have  placed  under  what  is 
known  as  "preventive  arrest"  throughout  the  German 
Empire  and  Austria  so  great  a  number  of  civilians  that 


178     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

the  German  prisons,  as  has  been  admitted,  are  filled  to 
repletion. 

With  the  Reichstag  shut  up,  and  the  hold  on  the 
newspapers  tightening,  what  opportunity  remains  by 
which  independent  thought  can  be  disseminated? 

In  Poland  meetings  to  consider  what  they  call 
"Church  affairs,"  but  which  were  really  revolutionary 
gatherings,  afforded  opportunity  for  discussion.  These 
have  been  ruled  out  of  order. 

The  lectures  taking  place  in  their  thousands  all  over 
Germany  might  afford  a  chance  of  expression  of  opin- 
ion, but  the  professors,  like  the  pastors,  are,  as  I  have 
said,  so  absolutely  dependent  upon  the  Government  for 
their  position  and  promotion,  that  I  have  only  heard 
of  one  of  them  who  had  the  temerity  to  make  any  speech 
other  than  those  of  the  "God-punish-England"  and 
"We-must-hold-out"  type.  His  resignation  from  the 
University  of  Munich  was  immediately  demanded,  and 
any  number  of  sycophants  were  ready  to  take  his  place. 

Clubs  are  illegal  in  Germany,  and  the  humblest 
working-men's  cafes  are  attended  by  spies.  In  my  re- 
searches in  the  Berlin  East-end  I  often  visited  these 
places  and  shared  my  adulterated  beer  and  war  bread 
with  the  working  folk — all  of  them  over  or  under  mili- 
tary age. 

One  evening  a  shabby  old  man  said  rather  more 
loudly  than  was  necessary  to  a  number  of  those  round 
him: — "I  am  tired  of  reading  in  the  newspapers  how 
nice  the  war  is.  Even  the  Vorwaerts  (then  a  Socialist 
paper)  lies  to  us.  I  am  tired  of  walking  home  night 
after  night  and  finding  restaurants  turned  into  hos- 
pitals for  the  wounded." 


PREVENTIVE  ARREST  179 

He  was  referring  in  particular  to  the  great  Schult- 
heiss  working-men's  restaurants  in  Hasenheide.  His 
remarks  were  received  with  obvious  sympathy. 

A  couple  of  nights  later  I  went  into  this  same  place 
and  took  my  seat,  but  it  was  obvious  that  my  visit  was 
unwelcome.  I  was  looked  at  suspiciously.  I  did  not 
think  very  much  of  the  incident,  but  ten  days  later  in 
passing  I  called  again,  when  a  lusty  young  fellow  of 
eighteen,  to  whom  I  had  spoken  on  my  first  visit,  came 
forward  and  said  to  me,  almost  threateningly,  "You 
are  a  stranger  here.  May  I  ask  what  you  are  doing?" 

I  said :  "I  am  an  American  newspaper  correspondent, 
and  am  trying  to  find  out  what  I  can  about  the  ways  of 
German  working  folk." 

He  could  tell  by  my  accent  that  I  was  a  foreigner, 
and  said:  "We  thought  that  you  had  told  the  Govern- 
ment about  that  little  free  speaking  we  had  here  a  few 
days  ago.  You  know  that  the  little  old  man  who  was 
complaining  about  the  restaurants  being  turned  into  his- 
pitals  has  been  arrested?" 

This  form  of  arrest,  by  which  hundreds  of  people  are 
mysteriously  disappearing,  is  one  of  the  burning  griev- 
ances of  Germany  to-day.  In  its  application  it  re- 
sembles what  we  used  to  read  about  Russian  police.  It 
has  created  a  condition  beneath  the  surface  in  Germany 
resembling  the  terrorism  of  the  French  Revolution.  In 
the  absence  of  a  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  the  victim  lies  in 
gaol  indefinitely,  while  the  police  are,  nominally,  col- 
lecting the  evidence  against  him.  One  cannot  move 
about  very  long  without  coming  across  instances  of  this 
growing  form  of  tyranny,  but  I  will  merely  give  one 
other. 


i  so   THE;  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

A  German  family,  resident  in  Sweden,  were  in  corre- 
spondence with  a  woman  resident  in  Prussia.  In  one 
of  her  letters  she  incautiously  remarked,  "What  a  pity 
that  the  two  Emperors  cannot  be  taught  what  war  really 
means  to  the  German  peoples."  She  had  lost  two  sons, 
and  her  expression  of  bitterness  was  just  a  feminine 
outburst,  which  in  any  other  country,  would  have  been 
passed  by.  She  was  placed  under  preventive  arrest, 
and  is  still  in  gaol. 

The  police  are  armed  with  the  censorship  of  the  in- 
ternal postal  correspondence,  telegrams  and  telephones. 
One  of  the  complaints  of  the  Social  Democrat  members 
of  the  Reichstag  is  that  every  movement  is  spied  upon, 
and  their  communications  tampered  with  by  what  they 
call  the  "Black  Chamber." 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  debates  in 
the  closing  session  of  the  Reichstag  in  1916  on  police 
tyranny,  the  Press  censorship,  the  suppression  of  public 
opinion,  will  lead  to  any  result  other  than  the  familiar 
expressions  of  mild  indignation — such  as  that  which 
came  from  the  National  Liberal  and  Pan-German 
leader,  Dr.  Paasche — and  perhaps  a  little  innocent  leg- 
islation. But  the  reports  of  the  detailed  charges  against 
the  Government  constitute,  even  as  passed  by  the  Ger- 
man censorship  for  publication,  a  remarkable  revela- 
tion. It  should  be  remembered  in  reading  the  follow- 
ing quotations  that  the  whole  subject  has  been  discussed 
in  the  secrecy  of  the  Reichstag  Committee,  and  that 
what  is  now  disclosed  is  in  the  main  only  what  the  Gov- 
ernment has  been  unable  to  hush  up  or  hide. 

In  his  famous  speech  on  "preventive  arrest"  the  So- 
cial Democratic  Deputy,  Herr  Dittmann  said: — 


PREVENTIVE  ARREST  1 8 1 

"Last  May  I  remarked  that  the  system  of  preventive 
arrest  was  producing  a  real  reign  of  terror,  and  since 
then  things  have  got  steadily  worse.  The  law  as  it  was 
before  1848  and  the  Socialist  Law,  of  scandalous 
memory,  are  celebrating  their  resurrection.  The  sys- 
tem of  denunciation  and  of  agents-provocateurs  is  in 
full  bloom,  and  it  is  all  being  done  under  the  mask  of 
patriotism  and  the  saving  of  the  country.  Anybody 
who  for  personal  or  other  reasons  is  regarded  by  the 
professional  agents-provocateurs  as  unsatisfactory  or 
inconvenient  is  put  under  suspicion  of  espionage,  or 
treason,  or  other  crime.  And  such  vague  denunciations 
are  then  sufficient  to  deprive  the  victim  of  his  freedom, 
without  any  possibility  of  defence  being  given  him.  In 
many  cases  such  arrest  has  been  ^maintained  by  the  year 
without  any  lawful  foundation  for  it.  Treachery  and 
low  cunning  are  now  enjoying  real  orgies.  A  criminal 
is  duly  convicted  and  knows  his  fate.  The  man  under 
preventive  arrest  is  overburdened  by  the  uncertainty  of 
despair,  and  is  simply  buried  alive.  The  members  of 
the  Government  do  not  seem  to  have  a  spark  of  under- 
standing for  this  situation,  the  mental  and  material  ef- 
fects of  which  are  equally  terrible. 

"Dr.  Helfferich  said  in  the  Budget  Committee  in  the 
case  of  Dr.  Franz  Mehring  that  it  is  better  that  he 
should  be  under  detention  than  that  he  should  be  at 
large  and  do  something  for  which  he  would  have  to  be 
punished.  According  to  this  reasoning  the  best  thing 
would  be  to  lock  up  everybody  and  keep  them  from 
breaking  the  law.  The  ideal  of  Dr.  Helfferich  seems 
to  be  the  German  National  Prison  of  which  Heine 
spoke.  The  case  of  Mehring  is  classical  proof  of  the 


182     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

fact  that  we  are  no  longer  far  removed  from  the  Helf- 
ferich  ideal." 

Herr  Dittmann  went  on  to  say  that  Herr  Mehring's 
only  offence  was  that  in  a  letter  seized  by  the  police 
he  wrote  to  a  Reichstag  deputy  named  Herzfeld  in 
favour  of  a  peace  demonstration  in  Berlin,  and  offered 
to  write  a  fly-sheet  inviting  attendance  at  such  a  meet- 
ing. Mehring,  who  is  over  70  years  of  age,  was  then 
locked  up.  Herr  Dittmann  continued: — 

"How  much  longer  will  it  be  before  even  thoughts 
become  criminal  in  Germany?  Mehring  is  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  historians  and  writers,  and  one  of  the 
first  representatives  of  German  intellectual  life — known 
as  such  far  beyond  the  German  frontiers.  When  it  is 
now  known  abroad  that  such  a  man  has  been  put  under 
a  sort  of  preventive  arrest  merely  in  order  to  cut  him 
off  from  the  public  for  political  reasons,  one  really  can- 
not be  astonished  at  the  low  reputation  enjoyed  by  the 
German  Government  both  at  home  and  abroad.  How 
evil  must  be  the  state  of  a  Government  which  has  to 
lock  up  the  first  minds  of  the  country  in  order  to  choke 
their  opposition!" 

Herr  Dittmann's  second  case  was  that  of  Frau  Rosa 
Luxemburg.  He  said  that  she  was  put  under  arrest 
many  months  ago,  without  any  charge  being  made 
against  her,  and  merely  out  of  fear  of  her  intellectual 
influence  upon  the  working  classes.  All  the  Socialist 
women  of  Germany  were  deeply  indignant,  and  he  in- 
vited the  Government  to  consider  that  such  things  must 
make  it  the  positive  duty  of  Socialists  in  France,  Eng- 
land, Italy  and  Russia  "to  fight  against  a  Government 
which  imprisons  without  any  reason  the  best-known 


PREVENTIVE  ARREST  183 

champions  of  the  International  proletariat."  The  treat- 
ment of  both  Mehring  and  Frau  Luxemburg  had  been 
terrible.  The  former,  old  and  ill,  had  had  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  getting  admission  to  a  prison  infirmary. 
Fran  Luxemburg  a  month  ago  was  taken  from  her 
prison  bed  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  removed  to  the 
police  headquarters,  and  put  in  a  cell  which  was  re- 
served for  prostitutes.  She  had  not  been  allowed  a 
doctor,  and  had  been  given  food  which  she  could  not 
eat.  Just  before  the  Reichstag  debate  she  had  been 
taken  away  from  Berlin  to  Wronke,  in  the  Province 
of  Posen. 

Herr  Dittmann  then  gave  a  terrible  account,  some 
of  it  unfit  for  reproduction,  of  the  treatment  in  prison 
of  two  girls  of  eighteen  whose  offence  was  that  on  June 
27th  they  had  distributed  invitations  to  working  women 
to  attend  a  meeting  of  protest  against  the  procedure  in 
the  case  of  Herr  Liebknecht.  He  observed  that  they 
owed  it  entirely  to  themselves  and  to  their  training  if 
they  had  not  been  ruined  physically  and  morally  in 
their  "royal  Prussian  prison."  When  they  were 
at  last  released  they  were  informed  that  they  would 
be  imprisoned  for  the  rest  of  the  war  if  they 
attended  any  public  meeting.  Herr  Dittmann  pro- 
ceeded : — 

"Here  we  have  police  brutality  in  all  its  purity. 
This  is  how  a  working-class  child  who  is  trying  to  make 
her  way  up  to  knowledge  and  Kultur  is  treated  in  the 
country  of  the  promised  'new  orientation/  in  which 
(according  to  the  Imperial  Chancellor)  'the  road  is  to 
be  opened  for  all  who  are  efficient.'  These  are  the 
methods  by  which  the  spirit  of  independence  is  syste- 


1 84    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

matically  to  be  killed.  That  is  the  reason  for  the  arrests 
of  members  of  the  Socialist  party  who  stand  on  the  side 
of  determined  opposition.  You  imagine  that  by  isolat- 
ing the  leading  elements  of  the  opposition  you  can  crush 
the  head  of  the  snake." 

Herr  Dittmann's  next  case  was  that  of  Dr.  Meyer, 
one  of  the  editors  of  Vorwaertsf  who  was  arrested  many 
months  ago.  He  is  suffering  from  tuberculosis,  but  is 
not  allowed  to  go  to  a  sanatorium.  Another  Socialist 
journalist  named  Regge,  father  of  six  children,  has 
been  under  arrest  since  August,  his  only  offence  being 
that  he  has  agitated  against  the  militarist  majority. 
Herr  Dittmann  then  dealt  at  lenght  with  the  Socialist 
journalist  named  Kliihs,  who  has  been  in  prison  for 
eight  months,  also  for  his  activity  on  behalf  of  the  So- 
cialist minority  against  the  majority,  and  was  pre- 
vented from  communicating  with  his  dying  wife  or  at- 
tending her  funeral. 

Herr  Dittmann  gave  the  details  of  three  cases  at 
Diisseldorf  and  one  at  Brunswick,  and  then  explained 
how  the  military  authorities  in  many  parts  of  Germany 
are  deliberately  offering  Socialists  the  choice  between 
silence  and  military  service.  A  well-known  trade  union 
official  at  Elberfeld,  named  Sauerbrey,  who  had  been 
declared  totally  unfit  for  military  service  because  he 
had  lost  several  fingers  on  his  left  hand,  was  arrested 
and  charged  with  treason.  He  was  acquitted,  but  in- 
stead of  obtaining  his  freedom  he  was  immediately 
called  up  and  is  now  in  training  for  the  front.  Herr 
Dittmann  said  that  this  case  had  caused  intense  bitter- 
ness, and  added: — 

"The  Military  Command  at  Minister  is  surprised 


PREVENTIVE  ARREST  185 

that  the  feeling  in  the  whole  Wupper  Valley  is  becom- 
ing more  and  more  discontented,  and  the  military  are 
now  hatching  new  measures  of  violence  in  order  to  be 
able  to  master  this  discontent.  One  would  think  that 
such  things  came  from  the  madhouse.  In  reality  they 
represent  conditions  under  martial  law,  and  this  case 
is  only  one  of  very  many." 

llerr  Dittmann  gave  several  instances  of  men  de- 
clared unfit  for  service  who  had  been  called  up  for  po- 
litical reasons,  and  he  ended  his  speech  as  follows: — 

"In  regard  to  all  this  persecution  of  peaceful  citi- 
zens there  is  a  regular  apparatus  of  agents-provoca- 
teurs, provided  by  officials  of  all  kinds,  and  the  appara- 
tus is  growing  every  day.  If  these  persecutions  were 
stopped  a  great  number  of  these  agents  and  officials 
could  be  released  for  military  service.  In  most  cases 
they  are  mere  shirkers,  and  that  is  why  they  cling  to 
their  posts  and  seek  every  day  to  prove  themselves  in- 
dispensable by  discovering  all  sorts  of  crimes.  Because 
they  do  not  want  to  go  to  the  trenches  other  people  must 
go  to  prison.  Put  an  end  to  the  state  of  martial  law, 
and  help  us  to  root  up  a  state  of  things  which  disgraces 
the  German  name." 

The  Alsatian  deputy,  Herr  Haus,  said  that  Alsace- 
Lorraine  is  suffering  more  than  any  other  part  of  the 
country,  and  that  more  than  1,000  persons  have  been 
arrested  without  any  charge  being  brought  against  them. 
Herr  Seyda,  for  the  Poles,  said  that  the  Polish  popula- 
tion of  Germany  suffers  especially  from  the  system  of 
preventive  arrest. 

In  his  contemptuous  reply,  which  showed  that  the 
Government  was  confident  that  it  had  nothing  to  fear 


1 86     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

from  the  majority  in  the  Reichstag,  Herr  Helfferich 
said : — 

"The  institution  of  the  dictator  comes  from  ancient 
Rome,  from  the  classical  Republic  of  antiquity. 
(Laughter.)  When  the  State  was  fighting  for  its  ex- 
istence it  was  found  necessary  to  place  supreme  power 
in  the  hands  of  a  single  man,  and  to  give  this  Roman 
dictator  authority  which  was  much  greater  than  the  au- 
thority belonging  to  preventive  arrest  and  martial  law. 
The  whole  development  proceeds  by  way  of  compro- 
mise between  the  needs  of  the  State  and  the  needs  of 
protection  for  the  individual.  The  results  vary  accord- 
ing to  the  particular  level  of  civilisation  -reached  by  the 
particular  State.  (Socialist  cries  of  'Very  true.')  We 
are  not  at  the  lowest  level.  When  one  considers  the 
state  of  things  in  Germany  in  peace  time  we  can  be 
proud.  (Socialist  interruptions.)  I  am  proud  of  Ger- 
many. I  think  that  our  constitutional  system  before 
the  outbreak  of  war  and  our  level  of  Kultur  were  such 
as  every  German  could  be  proud  of.  ('No,  no.')  I 
hope  that  we  shall  soon  be  able  to  revert  to  those  con- 
ditions." 

Herr  Helfferich  went  on  to  argue  that  repression  in 
Germany  is  really  much  milder  than  in  France,  Eng- 
land, or  Italy;  and  for  the  debate  on  the  censorship, 
which  followed  the  debate  on  preventive  arrest,  he  came 
armed  with  an  account  of  the  Defence  of  the  Realm 
Acts.  When  he  enlarged  upon  the  powers  of  the  Brit- 
ish Government  he  was  interrupted  by  cries  of  "It  is 
a  question  not  of  theory  but  of  practice,"  and  the  So- 
cialist leader  Herr  Stadthagen  made  a  scathing  reply. 
He  said: — 


PREVENTIVE  ARREST  187 

"Even  if  everything  in  England  is  as  Herr  Helf- 
ferich  described  it,  the  state  of  things  is  much  better 
there  than  in  Germany.  Herr  Helfferich  stated  the 
cases  in  which  arrest  and  searcB  of  dwellings  may  take 
place,  but  those  are  cases  in  which  similar  action  can 
be  taken  in  Germany  in  time  of  peace  under  the  or- 
dinary criminal  law.  The  Englishman  has  quite  other 
rights.  He  has  the  right  to  his  personality,  and,  above 
all,  the  officials  in  England,  unlike  Germany,  are  per- 
sonally responsible.  When  we  make  a  law,  that  law 
is  repealed  by  the  Administration.  That  is  the  whole 
point,  but  Herr  Helfferich  does  not  see  it,  and  he  does 
not  see  that  we  live  in  a  Police  State  and  under  a  po- 
lice system.  Did  it  ever  occur  to  anybody  in  England 
to  dispute  the  right  of  immunity  of  members  of  parlia- 
ment? Did  it  ever  occur  to  anybody  in  England 
to  go  to  members  of  the  Opposition  in  Parliament  and 
demand  that  they  should  resign  their  seats  on  pain  of 
arrest  ?  Or  has  anybody  in  England  been  threatened 
with  arrest  if  he  does  not  withdraw  a  declaration 
against  the  committee  of  his  party  ?  Two  newspapers 
have  been  suppressed  in  England  because  they  opposed 
munitions  work.  I  regret  this  check  upon  free  criticism 
in  England,  but  what  would  have  happened  in  Ger- 
many? In  Germany  there  would  undoubtedly  have 
been  a  prosecution  for  high  treason.  In  England, 
moreover,  the  newspapers  are  allowed  to  reappear,  and 
that  without  giving  any  guarantees.  In  Germany  we 
are  required  to  give  guarantees  that  the  papers  shall  be 
conducted  by  a  person  approved  of  by  the  political  po- 
lice. Herr  Helfferich  employs  inappropriate  compari- 
sons. I  will  give  him  one  which  applies.  The  political 


1 8  8     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

police  in  Germany  is  precisely  what  the  State  Inquisi- 
tion was  in  Venice." 

An  interesting  point  in  the  censorship  debate  was 
the  disclosure  of  the  fact  that  the  local  censors  do  what 
they  please.  Herr  Seyda  protested  against  the  peculiar 
persecution  of  the  Poles.  He  remarked  that  at  Gnesen 
no  Polish  paper  has  been  allowed  to  appear  for  the  past 
two  years. 

But  as  significant  as  anything  was  Herr  Stadthagen's 
account  of  the  recruiting  for  the  political  police.  He 
said  that  the  police  freely  offer  both  money  and  exemp- 
tion from  military  service  to  boys  who  are  about  to  be- 
come liable  for  service.  He  gave  a  typical  case  of  a 
boy  of  seventeen.  The  police  called  at  his  home  and 
inquired  whether  he  belonged  to  any  Socialist  organisa- 
tion and  whether  he  had  been  medically  examined  for 
the  Army.  A  police  official  then  waylaid  the  boy  aa 
he  was  leaving  work  and  promised  him  that,  if  he  would 
give  information  of  what  went  on  in  his  Socialist  as- 
sociation, he  could  earn  from  £4  to  £4  10s.  a  month 
and  be  exempt  from  military  service. 

There  is  a  peculiar  connection  between  censorship 
and  police.  The  evil  effect  of  the  censorship  of  their 
own  Press  by  the  German  Government  is  to  hypnotise 
the  thousands  of  Government  bureaucrats  into  the  be- 
lief that  that  which  they  read  in  their  own  controlled 
Press  is  true. 

No  people  are  more  ready  to  believe  what  they  want 
to  believe  than  the  governing  class  in  Germany.  They 
wanted  to  believe  that  Great  Britain  would  not  come 
into  the  war.  They  had  got  into  their  heads,  too,  that 
Japan  was  going  to  be  an  ally  of  theirs.  They  wrote 


PREVENTIVE  ARREST  189 

themselves  into  the  belief  that  France  was  defeated  and 
would  collapse. 

Regarding  the  Press,  as  they  do,  as  all-important, 
they  picked  from  the  British  Press  any  articles  or 
fragments  of  articles  suitable  for  their  purpose  and 
quoted  them.  They  are  adepts  in  the  art  of  dissecting 
a  paragraph  so  that  the  sense  is  quite  contrary  to  that 
meant  by  the  writer. 

But  the  German  Government  goes  further  than  that. 
It  is  quite  content  to  quote  to-day  expressions  of  Greek 
opinion  from  Athens  organs  well  known  to  be  subsidised 
by  Germany.  Certain  bribed  papers  in  Zurich  and 
Stockholm,  and  one  notorious  American  paper,  are  used 
for  this  process  of  self-hypnotism.  The  object  is  two- 
fold. First,  to  influence  public  opinion  in  the  foreign 
country,  and,  secondly,  by  requoting  the  opinion,  to  in- 
fluence their  own  people  into  believing  that  this  is  the 
opinion  held  in  the  country  from  which  it  emanates. 
Thus,  when  I  told  Germans  that  large  numbers  of  the 
Dutch  people  are  pro-Ally,  they  point  to  an  extract 
from  an  article  in  De  Toekomst  and  controvert  me. 

These  methods  go  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  po- 
lice when  they  declare  that  in  acting  severely  they  are 
only  acting  against  anarchistic  opinions  likely  to  create 
the  impression  abroad  that  there  is  disunity  within  the 
Empire. 

Never,  so  far  as  I  can  gather,  in  the  world's  history 
was  there  so  complete  a  machine  for  the  suppression  of 
individual  opinion  as  the  German  police. 

The  anti-war  demonstrations  in  Germany  range  all 
the  way  from  the  smashing  of  a  few  food-shop  windows 


190    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

to  the  complete  preparations  for  a  serious  crippling  of 
the  armies  in  the  field  by  a  general  munition  strike. 

Half-way  between  were  the  so-called  "Liebknecht 
riots"  in  Berlin.  The  notices  summoning  these  semi- 
revolutionary  meetings  were  whispered  through  fac- 
tories, and  from  mouth  to  mouth  by  women  standing 
in  the  food  lines  waiting  for  their  potatoes,  morning 
bread,  meat,  sugar,  cheese,  and  other  supplies.  Lieb- 
knecht was  brought  to  secret  trial  on  June  27th,  on  the 
evening  of  which  demonstrations  took  piace  throughout 
the  city.  I  was  present  at  the  one  near  the  Rathaus, 
which  was  dispersed  towards  midnight  when  the  police 
actually  drew  their  revolvers  and  charged  the  crowd. 

The  following  evening  I  was  at  an  early  hour  in  the 
Potsdamer  Platz,  where  a  great  demonstration  was  to 
take  place.  It  was  the  second  anniversary  of  the  mur- 
der at  Sarajevo.  The  city  was  clearly  restless,  agi- 
tated ;  people  were  on  the  watch  for  something  to  hap- 
pen. The  Potsdamer  Platz  is  the  centre  through  which 
the  great  arteries  of  traffic  flow  westward  after  the  work 
of  the  day  is  done.  The  people  who  stream  through  it 
do  not  belong  to  the  poorer  classes,  for  these  live  in 
the  east  and  the  north.  But  on  this  mild  June  evening 
there  was  a  noticeably  large  number  of  working  men  in 
the  streets  leading  into  the  Platz.  I  was  standing  near 
a  group  of  these  when  the  evening  editions  appeared 
with  the  news  that  Liebknecht  had  been  sentenced.  A 
low  murmur  among  the  workmen,  mutterings  of  sup- 
pressed rage  when  they  realised  the  significance  of  the 
short  trial  of  two  days,  and  a  determined  movement 
toward  the  place  of  demonstration. 

I  hurried  to  the  Potsdamer  Platz.     The  number  of 


PREVENTIVE  ARREST  1 9 1 

police  stationed  in  the  streets  leading  into  it  increased. 
The  Platz  itself  was  blue  with  them,  for  they  stood 
together  in  groups  of  six,  ten  and  twelve.  I  went  along 
the  Budapester  Strasse  to  the  Brandenburger  Tor, 
through  which  workmen  from  Moabit  had  streamed  at 
noon  declaring  that  they  would  strike.  They  had  been 
charged  by  the  mounted  police,  who  drove  them  back 
across  the  Spree.  There  was  a  blue  patrol  along  the 
TJnter  den  Linden  now.  A  whole  army  corps  of  police 
were  on  the  alert  in  the  German  capital. 

I  returned  to  the  Potsdamer  Platz.  It  was  thick 
with  people  now — curious  onlookers.  There  were 
crowds  of  workmen  in  the  adjacent  streets,  but  they 
were  not  allowed  to  approach  too  near.  Again  and 
again  they  tried,  but,  unarmed,  they  were  powerless 
when  the  horses  were  driven  into  them.  I  saw  a  few 
of  the  most  obstinate  struck  with  the  flat  of  sabres,  and 
on  others  were  rained  blows  from  the  police  on  foot. 
Nobody  hit  back,  or  even  defended  himself. 

There  was  practically  no  violence  such  as  one  expects 
from  a  mob.  It  was  something  else  which  impressed 
me.  It  impressed  my  police-lieutenant  friend,  also. 
That  was  the  dangerous  ugliness  in  the  workmen.  Hate 
was  written  in  their  faces,  and  the  low  growl  in  the 
crowd  told  all  too  plainly  the  growing  feeling  against 
the  war. 

The  Government  realised  this.  They  had  already 
seen  that  the  unity  they  had  so  artificially  created  could 
only  be  held  by  force.  They  had  used  force  in  the  muz- 
zling of  Liebknecht,  and  quietly  they  were  employing 
a  most  potent  force  every  day,  the  force  of  preventive 
arrest. 


1 92     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

In  July  there  was  agitation  for  the  great  munition 
strike  which  was  to  have  taken  place  on  the  day  of  the 
second  anniversary  of  the  war.  The  dimensions  of  the 
proposed  rising  were  effectually  concealed  by  the  cen- 
sorship. The  ugly  feeling  in  the  Potsdamer  Platz  had 
taught  the  Government  a  lesson. 

No  detail  was  neglected  in  the  preparations  against 
the  strike.  There  was  a  significant  movement  of  ma- 
chine-guns to  all  points  of  danger,  such  as  the  Moabit 
district  of  Berlin,  and  Spandau,  together  with  count- 
less warnings  against  so-called  "anarchists."  Any 
workman  who  showed  the  slightest  tendency  to  be  a 
leader  in  a  factory  group  was  taken  away.  The  ex- 
pressions of  intention  not  to  work  the  first  four  days 
of  August  became  so  strong  that  the  Press  issued  a 
warning  that  any  man  refusing  to  work  would  be  put 
into  a  uniform,  and  he  would  receive  not  eight  or  more 
marks  a  day  as  in  munition  work,  but  three  marks  in 
ten  days.  Even  the  Kaiser  supplemented  his  regular 
anniversary  manifestoes  to  the  armed  forces  of  the  Em- 
pire and  the  civilian  population  with  a  special  appeal 
to  the  workmen. 

I  was  up  and  ready  at  an  early  hour  on  the  morning 
of  August  1st.  Again  the  city  was  blue  with  police. 
But  this  time  they  were  reinforced.  As  I  walked 
through  streets  lined  with  soldiers  in  the  workingmen's 
quarters,  I  realised  the  futility  of  any  further  anti-war 
demonstrations  in  the  Fatherland. 

I  stood  in  the  immense  square  before  the  Royal  Pal- 
ace, and  reflected  that  two  years  ago  it  was  packed  with 
a  crowd  wild  with  joy  at  the  opportunity  of  going  to 
war.  There  was  unity.  I  stood  on  the  very  spot  where 


PREVENTIVE  ARREST  193 

the  old  man  was  jeered  because  he  had  said,  "War  is  a 
serious  business,  young  fellow." 

On  August  1st,  1916,  there  were  more  police  in  the 
square  than  civilians.  On  Unter  den  Linden  paced  the 
blue  patrol.  There  was  still  unity  in  Germany,  but  a 
unity  maintained  by  revolver,  sword  and  machine- 
gun. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

POLICE    RULE    IN    BOHEMIA 

IN  his  speech  to  the  Senate  President  Wilson  said: 
"No  peace  can  last,  or  ought  to  last,  which  does  not 
recognise  and  accept  the  principle  that  Governments 
derive  all  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed.  .  .  .  !N"o  nation  should  seek  to  extend 
its  polity  over  any  other  nation  or  people,  but  every 
people  should  be  left  free  to  determine  its  own  policy, 
its  own  way  of  development,  unhindered,  unthreatened, 
unafraid,  the  little  along  with  the  great  and  powerful." 

The  realisation  of  these  admirable  sentiments  pre- 
sents infinite  problems  in  various  sections  of  Europe, 
but  nowhere,  perhaps,  more  than  in  Austria-Hungary. 
In  his  heterogeneous  collection  of  peoples,  the  old  Em- 
peror had  to  make  a  choice  between  two  courses  in  order 
to  hold  his  thirteen  distinct  races  together  in  one  Em- 
pire. He  could  have  tried  to  make  them  politically 
contented  through  freedom  to  manage  their  own  affairs 
while  owing  allegiance  to  the  Empire  as  a  whole,  or  he 
could  suppress  the  individual  people  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  would  have  unity  by  force. 

He  chose  the  second  course.  With  the  Germans  dom- 
inant in  Austria  and  the  Magyars  in  Hungary,  other 
nations  have  been  scientifically  subjugated.  As  in  the 
case  of  the  procedure  of  "Preventive  Arrest"  in  Ger- 
many, the  authorities  seek  to  work  smoothly  and  si- 

194 


POLICE  RULE  IN  BOHEMIA         195 

lently,   with   the   result  that  only   an  occasional   echo 
reaches  the  outside  world. 

The  description  of  the  relations  of  the  various  peoples 
and  the  "Unity-Machine"  employed  would  fill  a  large 
book.  Control  of  public  opinion  has  been  the  first  ac- 
tion of  the  rulers  of  the  Dual  Monarchy.  In  peace 
time,  not  only  were  the  suppressed  nations,  such  as  the 
Czechs,  Slovaks,  Rumanians,  Luthenians,  Poles,  Slo- 
venes, Italians,  but  all  the  citizens  of  Austria-Hungary, 
denied  the  right  of  free  speech  and  freedom  of  the 
Press.  Some  of  the  regulations  by  which  the  Govern- 
ment held  absolute  sway  over  its  subjects  are: 

(1)  No  newspaper  or  other  printing  business  could 
be  established  until   a  heavy  deposit  was  made  with 
the  police  for  the  payment  of  fines,  such  fines  to  be 
arbitrarily  imposed  by  the  police — in  whom  is  vested 
extraordinary    power — when    anything    political    was 
written  which  did  not  please  them.     They  are  difficult 
to  please,  I  may  add. 

(2)  A  complete  copy  of  each  edition  must  be  sent  to 
the  police  before  it  was  put  on  sale.     "Good"  editors 
whose  inspiration  was  of  a  nature  to  enable  them  to 
interpret  the  wishes  of  the  Government,  sometimes  re- 
ceived a  dispensation  from  this  formality. 

(3)  No  club  might  hold  a  private  meeting.    A  repre- 
sentative of  the  police  must  be  present.     This  rule  was 
often  extended  even  to  friendly  gatherings  in  private 
homes  in  such  places  as  Bohemia. 

(4)  No  political  meeting  might  be  held  without  a 
permit,  and   a   representative   of  the  police   must  he 
present.     Often  he  sat  on  the  platform.     It  is  amusing 
for  the  visitor  from  a  free  country  to  attend  a  political 


196     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING.SHADOW 

meeting  where  the  chairman,  speaker  and  policeman 
file  up  on  the  stage  to  occupy  the  three  chairs  reserved 
for  them.  The  policeman  may  be  heard  by  those  in 
the  front  rows  continually  cautioning  the  speaker.  If 
he  thinks  the  speaker  is  talking  too  freely  he  either  in- 
tervenes through  the  chairman  and  asks  him  to  be 
moderate  or  dismisses  the  meeting. 

These  regulations,  I  again  remind  the  reader,  were  in 
force  in  peace  time.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  an  extension 
of  them  effectually  checks  attempts  of  the  Czechs  (Bo- 
hemians) and  other  peoples  to  legislate  themselves  into 
a  little  freedom. 

When  I  came  to  England  early  in  the  war  from 
Austria-Hungary  and  Germany  I  heard  many  expres- 
sions of  hope  that  the  discontented  races  in  the  Empire 
of  Francis  Joseph  would  rebel,  and  later  expressions  of 
surprise  that  they  did  not.  Englishmen  held  the  opinion 
that  such  races  would  be  decidedly  averse  from  fighting 
for  the  Hapsburgs.  The  opinion  was  correct,  and  no- 
body knew  this  better  than  the  Hapsburgs  themselves. 

Like  the  German  Government  in  the  matter  of 
Alsace-Lorraine,  the  Austrian  Government  has  en- 
deavoured to  mislead  public  opinion  in  foreign  coun- 
tries as  to  the  state  of  mind  of  the  Czechs  by  false 
information  and  to  conceal  the  true  military  and  politi- 
cal situation  from  the  population  at  home.  Austria's 
first  problem  at  the  outbreak  of  war — a  problem  which 
has  been  worked  out  to  the  last  detail — was  rapidly 
to  move  the  soldiers  of  the  subjugated  races  from  their 
native  lands.  Since  the  Bosnians,  for  example,  are  of 
the  Serbian  race,  they  were  mobilised  secretly  in  the 
middle  of  July  and  sent  out  of  Bosnia.  I  saw  30,000 


POLICE  RULE  IN  BOHEMIA         197 

moved  through  Trieste  several  days  before  war  was 
declared  on  Serbia.  A  German  acquaintance,  with 
great  shipping  interests,  enthusiastically  indiscreet  at 
sight  of  them,  exclaimed  to  the  little  group  of  which 
I  was  one :  "A  wonderful  system — a  wonderful  system ! 
The  Bosnians  could  not  be  trusted  to  fight  the  Serbs. 
But  we  Germans  can  use  them  if  they  prove  trouble- 
some to  Austria,"  he  continued  excitedly.  "We  can 
send  them  against  the  French.  We  will  tell  them  that 
if  they  do  not  shoot  the  French,  we  will  shoot  them" 
I  thought  this  a  rather  curious  conversation  for  July 
25th,  1914. 

Less  than  fortnight  later  I  saw  two  Bohemian  regi- 
ments arrive  at  Prasso,  Transylvania,  the  province 
farthest  removed  from  their  homes,  to  be  garrisoned  iu 
a  region,  the  population  of  which  is  Rumanian,  Hun- 
garian and  Saxon.  I  was  told  later  that  the  Rumanians 
who  had  left  the  garrisons  at  Brasso  had  gone  to  Bo- 
hemia. As  I  observed  these  initial  steps  in  the  great 
smooth-running  Ausfcro-Hungarian  military  machine, 
I  was  impressed  with  the  impossibility  of  revolution. 
With  the  soldier  element  scientifically  broken  up  and 
scattered  all  over  the  country,  who  could  revolt — the 
women  and  children? 

The  Slav  soldiers  of  Austria-Hungary  desert  to  Rus- 
sia at  every  opportunity.  The  fact  that  she  now  has 
upwards  of  1,200,000  Austro-Hungarian  prisoners  is 
sufficient  refutation  of  the  sugar-coated  propaganda 
describing  how  all  the  peoples  who  make  up  Austria- 
Hungary  rushed  loyally  and  enthusiastically  to  arms  to 
the  defence  of  their  Emperor  and  common  country. 
This  is  perfectly  true  of  the  politically  dominant  races, 


198     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

the  Germans  and  the  Magyars,  but  the  "enthusiasm" 
I  witnessed  among  the  subjugated  races  consisted 
chiefly  of  sad-faced  soldiers  and  weeping  women. 

The  Bohemians  have  given  most  trouble.  One  Ger- 
man officer  who  was  sent  to  Austria  to  help  bolster  up 
her  army  told  me  that  he  didn't  worry  over  the  deser- 
tion of  Bohemians  singly  and  in  small  groups.  He  ex- 
pected that.  But  he  did  take  serious  exception  to  the 
increasingly  popular  custom  of  whole  battalions  with 
their  officers  and  equipment  passing  over  to  the  Russian 
lines  intact. 

The  story  of  the  Bohemian  regiment  trapped  in  the 
Army  of  Leopold  of  Bavaria  is  generally  known  in 
Austria.  When  the  staff  learned  that  this  regiment 
planned  to  cross  to  the  Russians  on  a  certain  night, 
three  Bavarian  regiments,  well  equipped  with  machine- 
guns,  were  set  to  trap  it.  Contrary  to  usual  procedure, 
the  Bohemians  were  induced  by  the  men  impersonating 
the  Russians  to  lay  down  their  arms  as  an  evidence  of 
good  faith  before  crossing.  The  whole  regiment  was 
then  rounded  up  and  marched  to  the  rear,  where  a  pub- 
lic example  was  made  of  it.  The  officers  were  shot. 
Then  every  tenth  man  was  shot.  The  Government,  in 
order  to  circumvent  any  unfavourable  impression  which 
this  act  might  make  in  Bohemia,  caused  to  be  read  each 
day  for  three  days  in  the  schools  a  decree  of  the  Em- 
peror, condemning  the  treachery  of  this  regiment,  the 
number  of  which  was  ordered  for  ever  to  be  struck  from 
the  military  rolls  of  the  Empire. 

During  the  terrific  fighting  at  Baranowitchi  in  the 
great  Russian  offensive  last  summer,  at  a  time  when 
the  Russians  repeatedly  but  unsuccessfully  stormed  that 


POLICE  RULE  IN  BOHEMIA         199 

important  railway  junction,  some  Prussian  units  found 
their  right  flank  unsupported  one  morning  at  dawn, 
because  two  Bohemian  battalions  had  changed  flags 
during  the  night.  The  next  Russian  attack  caused  the 
Prussians  to  lose  48  per  cent,  of  their  men. 

This  was  the  final  straw  for  the  Staff  of  Leopold's 
Army.  An  Order  was  issued  explaining  to  the  troops 
that  henceforth  no  more  Czechs  would  have  the  honour 
of  doing  first  line  duty,  since  their  courage  was  not  of 
as  high  a  degree  as  that  of  the  others.  I  found  that 
the  Prussians,  despite  their  depleted  state,  actually  be- 
lieved this  explanation,  which  filled  them  with  pride  in 
themselves  and  contempt  for  the  Czechs. 

But  the  German  officers  in  charge  of  reorganising  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Army  were  not  content  to  let  Bo- 
hemians perform  safe  duties  in  the  rear.  Consequently, 
they  diluted  them  until  no  regiment  contained  more 
than  20  per  cent. 

The  authorities  have  been  no  less  thorough  with  the 
civilian  population.  From  the  day  of  mobilisation  all 
political  life  was  suspended.  The  three  parties  of  the 
Opposition,  the  Radicals,  the  National-Socialists,  and 
the  Progressives,  were  annihilated  and  their  newspapers 
suppressed.  Their  leaders,  such  men  as  Kramarzh, 
Rasin,  Klofatch,  Scheiner,  Mazaryk,  Durich,  the  men 
who  served  as  guides  to  the  nation,  were  imprisoned  or 
exiled.  This  is  surely  a  violation  of  the  principle  that 
Governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent 
of  the  governed,  for  all  these  men  were  the  true  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people.  The  fact  that  the  Government 
was  obliged  to  get  rid  of  the  leaders  of  the  nation  shows 
what  the  real  situation  in  Bohemia  is. 


200    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

The  Czech  deputies  who  were  considered  dangerous, 
numbering  forty,  were  mobilised.  They  were  not  all 
sent  to  the  front ;  some  were  allowed  temporary  exemp- 
tion; but  the  Government  gave  them  to  understand 
that  the  slightest  act  of  hostility  towards  the  Monarchy 
on  their  part  would  result  in  their  being  called  up  imme- 
diately and  sent  to  the  front. 

The  fetters  of  the  Press  were  drawn  more  tightly. 
Even  the  German  papers  were  not  allowed  into  Bohe- 
mia. For  some  months,  two  or  three  enterprising 
editors  used  to  send  a  representative  to  Dresden  to  read 
the  German  and  English  papers  there.  At  present 
three-quarters  of  the  Czech  papers  and  all  the  Slovak 
newspapers  have  been  suppressed.  The  columns  of 
those  which  are  still  allowed  to  appear  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia  are  congested  by  mandates  of  the  police  and 
the  military  authorities,  which  the  editors  are  compelled 
to  insert.  Recently  the  Government  censorship  has 
been  particularly  active  against  books,  collections  of 
national  songs,  and  post-cards.  It  has  even  gone  so 
far  as  to  confiscate  scientific  works  dealing  with  Slav 
questions,  Dostoyevski's  novels,  the  books  of  Tolstoi 
and  Millioukoff,  and  collections  of  purely  scientific  Slav 
study  and  histories. 

The  Government,  however,  have  had  to  proceed  to 
far  greater  lengths.  By  May,  1916,  the  death  sentences 
of  civilians  pronounced  in  Austria  since  the  beginning 
of  the  war  exceeded  4,000.  Of  these,  965  were  Czechs. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  condemned  were  women. 
The  total  of  soldiers  executed  amounts  to  several 
thousands. 

Is   it   not    peculiar   that   among   people   which   the 


POLICE  RULE  IN  BOHEMIA         201 

Viennese  propaganda  represents  as  loyal,  hostages  are 
taken  in  Bohemia,  and  condemned  to  death,  under  the 
threat  of  execution  if  a  popular  movement  takes  place  ? 
The  people  are  told  of  this  and  are  given  to  understand 
that  the  hostages  have  hopes  for  mercy  if  all  is  quiet. 

Not  only  have  the  authorities  confiscated  the  prop- 
erty of  all  persons  convicted  of  political  offences  and 
of  all  Czechs  who  have  fled  from  Austria-Hungary,  but 
a  system  has  been  established  by  which  the  property  of 
Czech  soldiers  who  are  prisoners  in  Russia  is  confis- 
cated. The  State  profits  doubly  by  this  measure,  for 
it  futher  suppresses  the  allowances  made  to  the  fam- 
ilies of  these  soldiers.  In  order  to  terrorise  its  adver- 
saries through  such  measures,  the  Government  instructs 
the  Austrian  newspapers  to  publish  long  lists  of  con- 
fiscations and  other  penalties. 

After  a  time,  however,  the  Austrian  Government 
practically  abdicated  in  favour  of  the  Prussians  and 
now  undertake  to  carry  out  the  measures  of  Germanisa- 
tion  dictated  by  Berlin.  The  rights  in  connection  with 
the  u$e  of  the  Czech  language  in  administration,  in 
the  Law  Courts  and  on  the  railways,  rights  which  were 
won  by  the  desperate  efforts  of  two  generations  of  Czech 
politicians,  have  been  abrogated.  The  management  of 
the  railways  has  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  Prussian 
military  officials;  the  use  of  the  Czech  language  has 
been  suppressed  in  the  administration,  where  it  had 
formerly  been  lawful.  The  Czechs  have  been  denied 
access  to  the  Magistrature  and  to  public  offices  where 
they  had  occasionally  succeeded  in  directing  the  affairs 
in  their  own  country. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

SPIES  AND  SEMI-SPIES 

A  COMPREHENSIVE  account  of  the  German  system  of 
espionage  would  need  something  resembling  the 
dimensions  of  a  general  encyclopaedia,  but  for  the 
present  I  must  endeavour  to  summarise  the  subject  in 
the  course  of  a  chapter. 

Spying  is  just  as  essential  an  ingredient  of  Prussian 
character  as  conceit,  indifference  to  the  feelings  of 
others,  jealousy,  envy,  self-satisfaction,  conceit,  indus- 
try, inquisitiveness,  veneration  for  officialdom,  imita- 
tiveness,  materialism,  and  the  other  national  attributes 
that  will  occur  to  those  who  know  Prussia,  as  distinct 
from  the  other  German  States. 

Prussian  men  and  women  hardly  know  the  meaning 
of  the  word  "private,"  and,  as  they  have  Prussianised 
to  a  great  or  less  degree  all  the  other  States  of  the 
Empire,  they  have  inured  the  German  to  publicity  from 
childhood  upwards. 

In  the  enforcement  of  food  regulations  the  hands  of 
the  Government  in  Germany  are  strengthened  by  cer- 
tain elements  in  the  German  character,  one  of  which 
is  the  tendency  of  people  to  spy  upon  each  other.  Here 
is  a  case.  Last  Easter  the  customary  baking  of  cakes — 
a  time-honoured  ceremony  in  Germany — was  forbidden 
all  over  Prussia  from  April  1  to  26.  A  certain  good 
woman  of  Stettin,  whose  husband  was  coming  home 

202 


SPIES  AND  SEMI-SPIES  203 

from  the  trenches,  thought  that  she  would  welcome  her 
soldier  with  one  of  the  cakes  of  which  German  men  and 
women  are  so  fond.  She  foolishly  displayed  her  treasure 
to  a  neighbour,  who  had  dropped  in  for  gossip.  The 
neighbour  cut  short  the  interview,  went  home  to  her 
telephone,  called  up  the  police  and,  as  she  put  it,  did 
her  duty.  I  suppose  from  the  German  point  of  view  it 
is  the  duty  of  people  to  spy  in  each  other's  houses. 
From  an  Anglo-Saxon  point  of  view  it  is  something 
rather  like  sneaking  at  school. 

With  these  elements  in  their  character,  it  is  natural 
that  the  Germans  should  be  past  masters  in  the  art  of 
espionage.  It  does  not  follow  that  they  are  equally 
successful  in  the  deductions  formed  from  their  investi- 
gations in  foreign  matters,  but  they  are  so  egoistical  and 
so  literal,  so  fond  of  making  reports,  so  fond  of  seeing 
things  only  from  their  own  point  of  view,  that,  while 
they  may  be  successful  in  obtaining  possession  by  spy- 
ing, purchase,  or  theft,  of  the  plans,  say,  of  a  new  bat- 
tleship, they  are  not  able  to  form  an  accurate  estimate 
of  the  character  and  intentions  of  the  people  among 
whom  they  may  be  spying. 

Their  military  spying  is  believed  to  be  as  perfect  as 
such  work  can  be,  marred  occasionally  by  the  contempt 
they  feel  for  other  nations  in  military  matters.  I  pre- 
sume that  there  is  not  much  difference  in  the  systems 
of  various  nations  except  that  the  German  military  spy- 
ing is  probably  more  thorough. 

It  is  also  true  that  Germans  of  social  distinction  will 
often  take  positions  far  beneath  their  rank  in  order  to 
gather  valuable  information  for  their  Government. 
The  case  of  the  hall  porter  in  the  Hotel  dcs  Indes,  the 


204     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

most  fashionable  hotel  in  The  Hague,  is  a  notorious 
example.  He  is  of  gentle  birth,  a  brother  of  Baron  von 
Wangenheim,  late  German  Ambassador  to  Constanti- 
nople. 

In  one  of  the  most  luxurious  dining-saloons  on  one  of 
the  most  luxurious  of  the  great  German  liners — I 
promised  my  trustworthy  informant  not  to  be  more 
definite — the  man  who  was  head-waiter  during  the  year 
preceding  the  war  impressed  those  under  him  with 
being  much  more  interested  in  some  mysterious  busi- 
ness ashore  than  in  his  duties  aboard  ship.  He  threw 
most  of  his  work  on  subordinates,  who  complained, 
though  unsuccessfully,  to  the  management.  Unlike 
other  head-waiters  and  chief  stewards,  he  was  never 
aboard  the  ship  when  it  was  in  port.  He  was  the  only 
German  in  the  dining-saloon,  and  he  seemed  to  have 
great  influence.  He  conversed  freely  with  influential 
passengers  of  various  nationalities. 

The  liner  was  in  the  English  Channel  eastward 
bound  when  news  came  that  Germany  had  declared 
war  upon  Russia.  What  little  interest  he  had  pre- 
viously displayed  in  his  duties  now  vanished  completely, 
and  he  paced  the  deck  more  and  more  impatiently  as 
the  vessel  neared  Cuxhaven.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to 
go  ashore,  but  before  leaving  he  turned  to  two  of  the 
stewards  and  exclaimed,  "Good-bye.  I  am  going  to 
Wilhelmshaven  to  take  command  of  my  cruiser." 

In  general,  the  work  of  military  attaches  of  all  coun- 
tries is  added  to  by  more  or  less  formal  reports  by 
officers  who  may  be  travelling  on  leave.  But  German 
military  spying  goes  much  farther  than  this,  for  inas- 
much as  most  Germans  have  been  soldiers,  the  majority 


SPIES  AND  SEMI-SPIES  205 

of  Germans  travelling  or  resident  in  a  foreign  country 
are  trained  observers  of  military  matters  and  often  act 
as  semi-spies. 

The  system  of  "sowing"  Germans  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, as  I  have  heard  it  called  in  Germany,  and  getting 
them  naturalised,  was  begun  by  Prussia  before  the  war 
of  1866  against  Austria.  It  was  so  successful  under 
the  indirect  auspices  of  the  Triumvirate — Moltke, 
Roon,  and  Bismarck — that  it  was  developed  in  other 
countries.  Thus  it  is  that,  while  there  are  compara- 
tively few  Frenchmen,  for  example,  naturalised  in  Eng- 
land, many  German  residents  go  through  this  more  or 
less  meaningless  form  just  as  suits  their  partic- 
ular business  or  the  German  Government,  double 
nationality  being  regarded  as  a  patriotic  duty  to  the 
Fatherland. 

There  are,  as  a  rule,  three  schools  of  German  espion- 
age in  other  countries — the  Embassy,  the  Consulates, 
and  the  individual  spies,  who  have  no  connection  with 
either  and  who  forward  their  reports  direct  to  Ger- 
many. 

There  is  a  fourth  class  of  fairly  well-paid  profes- 
sional spies,  men  and  women,  of  all  classes,  who  visit 
foreign  countries  with  letters  of  introduction,  who 
attend  working-men's  conventions,  scientific,  military, 
and  other  industrial  congresses,  receiving  from  £40  to 
£100  monthly  by  way  of  pay.  The  case  of  Lody,  whom 
the  British  caught  and  executed,  was  a  type  of  the 
patriotic  officer  spy.  But  his  execution  caused  no  real 
regret  in  Germany,  for  he  was  regarded  as  a  clumsy 
fellow,  who  roused  the  vigilance  of  the  British  author- 
ities, with  the  result,  I  was  informed  in  Germany,  of 


206    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

the  arrest  and  execution  of  several  others,  mostly,  it  is 
said,  Dutch,  South  American  and  other  neutrals. 

The  atmosphere  of  spying  in  business  is  a  subtle  and 
comparatively  modern  form  of  German  espionage,  and 
has  developed  with  the  remarkable  rise  of  German  in- 
dustry in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  It  fits  in 
admirably  with  the  Consular  spy  system,  and  links  up 
Germans,  naturalised  and  otherwise,  in  a  chain  which 
binds  them  together  in  a  solidarity  of  workers  for  the 
cause.  The  Deutsche  Bank  and  the  Hamburg- Amerika 
Line  were  very  potent  engines  of  espionage. 

Nor  does  the  "Viktoria  Insurance  Company  of 
Berlin"  limit  its  activities  to  the  kind  of  business  sug- 
gested by  the  sign  over  the  door.  A  "Special  Bureau" 
in  the  Avenue  de  1'Opera,  Paris,  consisted  of  German. 
Reserve  officers  who  spent  a  half-year  or  more  in 
France.  As  soon  as  one  of  these  "finished  his  educa- 
tion" he  was  replaced  by  another  Reserve  officer.  Their 
duties  took  them  on  long  motor-trips  through  eastern 
France,  strangely  enough  to  localities  which  might  be 
of  strategic  importance  in  the  event  of  war.  It  is  not 
without  significance  that  all  the  clerks  of  the  "Special 
Bureau"  left  for  Germany  the  day  of  mobilisation. 

Many  of  the  semi-spies  of  the  German  commercial, 
musical,  and  theatrical  world  are,  from  their  point  of 
view,  honest  workers  and  enthusiastic  for  German 
Kultur.  They  recently  fastened  upon  England,  because 
the  Germans  for  many  years  have  been  taught  to  regard 
this  country  as  their  next  opponent. 

They  are  now  as  industrious  in  the  United  States  as 
they  were  in  England  before  the  war,  because  those 
Germans  who  think  they  have  won  the  war  believe  that 


SPIES  AND  SEMI-SPIES  207 

the  United  States  is  their  next  enemy.  How  active 
they  have  been  in  my  country  may  be  gathered  from 
the  revelations  concerning  Bernstorff,  von  Papen,  Boy- 
ed,  Dumba,  the  officials  of  the  Hamburg-Amerika  Line, 
and  many  others,  whose  machinations  have  been  re- 
vealed by  the  New  York  World  and  other  journals. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  German  Minister  and  his  staff 
in  any  foreign  conutry,  and  particularly  in  countries 
likely  to  become  hostile,  to  get  as  close  as  possible  to 
members  of  Governments,  members  of  Legislatures, 
leaders  of  thought  and  society,  and  members  of  the 
Press,  especially  the  first  and  the  last  in  this  category. 
Count  Bernstorff  in  the  United  States  did  exactly  what 
Prince  Lichnowsky  did  in  Britain  before  the  war,  and, 
if  I  may  say  so,  did  it  a  great  deal  more  successfully, 
though  it  is  the  plea  of  the  Prince's  defenders  that  he 
succeeded  in  making  very  powerful  and  permanent  con- 
nections in  Great  Britain. 

Our  American  Ambassadors,  on  the  other  hand,  con- 
fine their  attention  to  strictly  ambassadorial  work, 
attend  to  the  needs  of  travelling  Americans,  and  com- 
municate with  their  Government  on  matters  vital  to 
American  interests. 

The  excellent  German  Consular  system,  which  has 
done  so  much  to  help  German  trade  invaders  in  foreign 
countries,  is  openly  a  spy  bureau,  and  is  provided  in 
almeet  every  important  centre  with  its  own  secret 
service  fund.  Attached  to  it  are  spies  and  semi-spies, 
hotel-keepers,  hairdressers,  tutors,  governesses,  and  em- 
ployees in  Government  establishments,  such  as  ship- 
building yards  and  armament  factories.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  all  these  are  Germans.  Some,  I  regret 


208     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

to  say,  are  natives  of  the  land  in  which  the  Germans  are 
spying,  mostly  people  who  have  got  into  trouble  and 
with  whom  the  German  agents  have  got  into  touch. 
Such  men,  especially  those  who  have  suffered  imprison- 
ment, have  often  a  grudge  against  their  own  country 
and  are  easily  caught  in  the  spy  net. 

Part  of  the  system  in  England  before  the  war  was  a 
commercial  information  bureau  resembling  the  Ameri- 
can Bradstreets  and  the  English  Stubbs,  by  which,  on 
payment  of  a  small  sum,  the  commercial  standing  of 
any  firm  or  individual  can  be  obtained.  This  bureau, 
which  had  its  branches  also  in  Prance  and  Belgium, 
closed  its  activities  immediately  prior  to  the  war,  the 
whole  of  the  card-indexes  being  removed  to  Berlin. 

It  is  the  German  boast,  and  I  believe  a  legitimate 
one,  that  they  know  England  better  than  do  the  English. 
Their  error  is  in  believing  that  in  knowing  England 
they  know  the  English  themselves. 

At  the  outset  of  the  war,  when  the  Germans  were 
winning,  Herr  Albert  TJlrich,  of  the  Deutsche  Bank, 
and  chief  of  their  Oil  Development  Department,  speak- 
ing in  perfect  English,  told  me  in  a  rather  heated 
altercation  we  had  in  regard  to  my  country  that  he 
knew  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  very  thor- 
oughly indeed,  and  boasted  that  the  American  subma- 
rines, building  at  Fore  River,  of  which  the  Germans 
had  secured  the  designs,  would  be  of  little  value  in  the 
case  of  hostilities  between  Germany  and  the  United 
States,  which  he  then  thought  imminent. 

It  is  typical  of  German  mentality  that  when  I  met 
him  in  Berlin,  fifteen  months  later,  he  had  completely 
altered  his  tune  as  to  the  war,  and  his  tone  was,  "When 


SPIES  AND  SEMI-SPIES  209 

is  this  dreadful  war  going  to  end?"  This,  however, 
is  bj  the  way.  Herr  Ulrich  is  only  an  instance  of  the 
solidarity  of  Pan-Germanism.  An  English  or  Amer- 
ican banker  visting  a  foreign  country  attends  to  his 
affairs  and  departs.  A  German  in  a  similar  position  is 
a  sort  of  human  ferret.  An  hotel  with  us  is  a  place  of 
residence  for  transient  strangers.  The  Hotel  Adlon 
and  others  in  Berlin  are  excellent  hotels  as  such,  but 
mixed  up  with  spying  upon  strangers;  Herr  Adlon, 
senior,  a  friend  of  the  Kaiser's,  assists  the  Government 
spies  when  any  important  or  suspicious  visitor  registers. 
The  hotel  telephones  or  any  other  telephones  are  syste- 
matically tapped.  German  soldiers  are  granted  special 
leave  for  hotel  service — that  is  to  say,  hotel  spying. 

When  Belgium  and  France  were  invaded,  German 
officers  led  their  men  through  particular  districts  to 
particular  houses  with  certainty,  with  knowledge  gained 
by  previous  residence  and  spying.  I  know  an  officer 
with  von  Kluck's  army  who  received  the  Iron  Cross, 
First  Class,  for  special  information  he  had  given  to 
von  Kluck  which  facilitated  his  progress  through 
Belgium. 

Any  German  spies  who  may  be  working  in  England 
to-day  have  no  great  difficulty  in  communicating  with 
Germany,  though  communication  is  slow  and  expen- 
sive. They  can  do  so  by  many  routes  and  many  means. 
As  it  is  impossible  to  isolate  Great  Britain  from  Europe, 
it  is  equally  impossible  to  prevent  the  conveyance  of 
information  to  the  enemy  with  more  or  less  rapidity. 
Agents  of  the  various  belligerent  Powers  are  plentiful 
in  Switzerland,  Holland,  Denmark,  Norway  and 
Sweden,  and  the  United  States.  So  far  as  the  maritime 


2  io    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

countries  are  concerned,  ships  leave  and  enter  daily. 
It  is  quite  impossible  to  control  the  movements  of  neu- 
tral sailors  and  others  engaged  in  these  vessels.  To 
watch  all  the  movements  of  all  those  men  would  require 
a  detective  force  of  impossible  dimensions.  That  in- 
formation comes  and  goes  freely  by  these  channels  is 
notorious.  That  all  the  sailors  are  legitimate  sailors 
I  do  not  believe,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  I  know  that 
they  are  not. 

The  transmission  of  documents  via  Switzerland, 
Holland,,  Denmark,  Swteden,  and  Norway  has  been 
rendered  difficult,  but  not  always  impossible.  Cabling 
and  telegraphing  have  been  made  very  risky. 

Judging  by  the  impatience  manifested  in  certain 
quarters  in  Berlin  at  delay  in  getting  news  of  Zeppelin 
raids,  for  example,  I  believe  that  the  steps  taken  to 
delay  communication  between  England  and  Germany 
have  been  effective,  and  delay  in  spy  work  is  very  often 
fatal  to  its  efficiency.  The  various  tentacles  of  the 
German  spy  system,  its  checks  and  counter-checks, 
whereby  one  spy  watches  another;  whereby  the  naval 
spy  system  has  no  connection  with  the  military  spy 
system,  and  the  political  with  neither,  greatly  mars  its 
utility. 

Take  one  great  question — the  question  that  was  all- 
important  to  Germany  as  to  whether  Great  Britain 
would  or  would  not  enter  the  war  in  the  event  of  an 
invasion  of  Belgium  or  declaration  of  war  against 
France.  I  was  informed  on  good  Berlin  authority 
that  from  every  part  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
came  different  reports.  So  far  as  London  was  con- 
cerned, Prince  Lichnowsky  said  "No."  Baron  von 


SPIES  AND  SEMI-SPIES  2 1 1 

Kiihlmann  was  non-committal.  As  a  result  Lichnowsky 
was  disgraced  and  von  Kiihlmann  continued  in  favour. 

It  is  common  knowledge  in  Berlin,  and  may  be  else- 
where, that  the  most  surprised  person  in  Germany  at 
Great  Britain's  action  was  the  Kaiser,  whose  violent 
and  continual  denunciations  of  Great  Britain's  Govern- 
ment, of  King  Edward,  and  King  George,  are  repeated 
from  mouth  to  mouth  in  official  circles  with  a  sameness 
that  indicates  accuracy. 

All  the  ignorance  of  Great  Britain's  intentions  in 
1914  is  to  me  the  best  proof  that  the  German  minute 
system  of  working  does  not  always  produce  the  result 
desired. 

As  one  with  Irish  blood  in  my  veins,  I  found  that 
Germany's  Irish  spy  system  (largely  conducted  by  hotel 
waiters  and  active  for  more  than  five  and  twenty  years) 
had  resulted  in  hopeless  misunderstanding  of  Irish 
affairs  and  Irish  character,  North  and  South. 

German  spies  are  as  a  rule  badly  paid.  The  semi- 
spies,  such  as  waiters,  were  usually  "helped"  by  the 
German  Government  through  waiters'  friendly  so- 
cieties. It  was  the  duty  of  these  men  to  communicate 
either  in  writing  or  verbally  with  the  Consul,  or  with 
certain  headquarters  either  in  Brussels  or  Berlin,  and 
it  is  only  in  accordance  with  human  nature  that  spies 
of  that  class,  in  order  to  gain  a  reputation  for  acumen 
and  consequent  increase  of  pay,  provided  the  kind  of 
information  that  pleased  the  paymaster.  That,  indeed, 
was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  breakdown  of  the  German 
political  spy  system.  A  spy  waiter  or  governess  in  the 
County  of  Cork,  for  instance,  who  assiduously  reported 
that  a  revolution  throughout  the  whole  of  Ireland  would 


2 1 2     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

immediately  follow  Great  Britain's  entry  into  the  war, 
received  much  more  attention  than  the  spy  waiter  in 
Belfast  who  told  the  authorities  that  if  Germany  went 
to  war  many  Irishmen  would  join  England.  Ireland, 
I  admit,  is  very  difficult  and  puzzling  ground  for  spy 
work,  but  it  was  ground  thoroughly  covered  by  the  Ger- 
mans according  to  their  methods. 

The  military  party  in  Germany,  who  are  flaying  von 
Bethmann-Hollweg  for  his  ignorance  of  the  intentions 
of  Britain's  Dominions  and  of  Ireland,  never  cease  to 
throw  in  his  teeth  the  fact  that  he  had  millions  of 
pounds  (not  marks)  at  his  back  to  make  the  necessary 
investigations,  and  that  he  failed.  That  and  his  lack 
of  the  use  of  ruthlessness,  his  alleged  three  days'  delay 
to  mobilise  in  1914,  are  the  principal  charges  against 
him — charges  which,  in  my  opinion,  may  eventually 
result  in  his  downfall. 

The  great  mob  of  semi-spies  do  not  derive  their  whole 
income  from  Germany,  nor  are  they,  I  believe,  all  actu- 
ally paid  at  regular  intervals.  The  struggling  German 
shopkeeper  in  England  was  helped,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  is  still  helped,  by  occasional  sums  received  for 
business  development — sums  nominally  in  the  nature  of 
donations  or  loans  from  other  Germans.  The  army  of 
German  clerks,  who  came  to  England  and  worked  with- 
out salary  between  1875  and  1900,  received,  as  a  rule, 
their  travelling  money  and  an  allowance  paid  direct 
from  Germany,  or,  when  in  urgent  need,  from  the  Con- 
sul in  London  or  elsewhere.  Their  spying  was  largely 
commercial,  although  many  of  them  formed  connec- 
tions here  which  became  valuable  as  Germany  began 
to  prepare  directly  for  war  with  Britain.  They  also 


SPIES  AND  SEMI-SPIES  213 

helped  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  the  English  language 
which  has  enabled  Germany  to  analyse  the  country  by 
means  of  its  books,  Blue-books,  statistical  publications, 
and  newspapers.  They  also  brought  back  with  them 
topographical  and  local  knowledge  that  supplemented 
the  military  spy  work  later  achieved  by  the  German 
officers  who  came  to  live  here  for  spying  purposes,  and 
the  great  army  of  trained  spy  waiters,  who  are  not  to  be 
confused  with  the  semi-spies  in  hotels,  who  drew  small 
sums  from  Consuls. 

One  of  the  finest  pieces  of  spy  work  achieved  by 
Germany  was  the  obtaining  by  a  German  professor  of  a 
unique  set  of  photographs  of  the  whole  of  the  Scottish 
coast,  from  north  to  south.  Those  photographs  show- 
ing every  inlet  and  harbour,  are  now  at  the  Reichs- 
Marine-Amt  (Admiralty)  in  the  Leipsigerplatz.  They 
have  been  reproduced  for  the  use  of  the  Navy.  I  do 
not  know  how  they  were  obtained.  I  know  they  are  in 
existence,  and  they  were  taken  for  geological  purposes. 

Thefts  of  documents  from  British  Government  De- 
partments are  not  always  successfully  accomplished  by 
German  agents,  I  was  told.  Some  of  the  more  astute 
officials  are  alleged,  especially  by  the  Naval  Depart- 
ment, to  have  laid  traps  and  supplied  the  spies  with 
purposely  misleading  designs  and  codes. 

Assiduous  fishing  in  the  troubled  waters  around  the 
Wilhelmstrasse — waters  that  will  become  more  and 
more  troubled  as  the  siege  of  Germany  proceeds — ren- 
ders the  gathering  of  information  not  so  difficult  as  it 
might  appear. 

By  sympathising  with  the  critics  of  the  German 
Foreign  Office  in  the  violent  attacks  upon  the  Govern- 


2 1 4     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

ment   by   the   non-official    Social    Democrats,    a    sym- 
pathetic listener  can  learn  a  great  deal. 

One  thing  I  learned  is  that,  beyond  question,  the 
German  spy  system,  in  that  misty  period  called  "after 
the  war,"  will  be  very  completely  revised.  The  huge 
sums  of  money  mentioned  in  the  Reichstag  as  having 
been  expended  on  secret  service  have,  so  far  as  England 
is  concerned,  proved  of  no  political  value,  and  the  topo- 
graphical and  personal  knowledge  gained  would  only 
be  of  service  in  case  of  actual  invasion  and  the  conse- 
quent exactions  of  ransoms  from  individuals,  cities,  and 
districts. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  IRON  HAND  IN  ALSACE-LORRAINE 

THE  state  of  affairs  in  Alsace-Lorraine  is  one  of 
Germany's  most  carefully  hidden  secrets. 

In  the  first  months  of  the  war  I  heard  so  much  talk 
in  Germany — talk  based  upon  articles  in  the  Press — of 
how  the  Alsatians,  like  the  rest  of  the  Kaiser's  subjects, 
"rushed  to  the  defence  of  the  Fatherland,"  that  I  was 
filled  with  curiosity  to  go  and  see  for  myself  if  they 
had  suddenly  changed.  I  could  hardly  believe  that 
they  had,  for  I  had  studied  conditions  in  the  "lost 
provinces"  before  the  war. 

Still,  the  Wilhelmstrasse  propaganda  was  convincing 
millions  that  the  Alsations  received  the  French  very 
coldly  when  they  invaded  the  province  to  Mulhouse, 
and  that  they  greeted  the  German  troops  most  heartily 
when  they  drove  back  the  invader.  Indeed,  Alsatian 
fathers  were  depicted  as  rushing  into  the  streets  to  cheer 
the  German  colours,  while  their  wives  and  daughters 
"were  so  beside  themselves  with  joy  that  they  hung 
upon  the  necks  of  the  brave  German  Michaels,  hailing 
them  as  saviours." 

A  pretty  picture  of  the  appreciation  of  the  blessings 
of  German  rule,  but  was  it  true  ? 

Some  months  later  in  Paris,  when  I  stood  in  the 
Place  de  la  Concorde  before  the  Monument  of  Strass- 
burg,  covered  with  new  mourning  wreaths  and  a  Brit- 

215 


2 1 6     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

ish  flag  now  added,  I  felt  an  irresistible  yearning  to 
visit  the  closely  guarded  region  of  secrecy  and  mystery. 

On  my  subsequent  trip  to  Germany  I  planned  and 
planned  day  after  day  how  I  could  get  into  Alsace 
and  go  about  studying  actual  conditions  there.  When 
I  told  one  American  consul  that  I  wished  to  go  to 
Strassburg  to  see  things  for  myself,  he  threw  up  his 
hands  with  a  gesture  of  despair  and  reminded  me  that 
not  an  American  or  other  consulate  was  allowed  in 
Alsace-Lorraine,  even  in  peace  time.  When  I  replied 
that  I  was  determined  to  go  he  looked  grave,  and  said 
earnestly:  "Remember  that  you  are  going  into  a  damn 
bad  country,  and  you  go  at  your  own  risk." 

It  is  extremely  difficult  for  Germans,  to  say  nothing 
of  foreigners,  to  enter  the  fortress-city  of  Strassburg. 
Business  must  be  exceedingly  urgent,  and  a  military 
pass  is  required.  A  special  pass  is  necessary  to  remain 
over  night. 

How  did  I  get  into  Strassburg  in  war-time? 

That  is  my  own  story,  quite  a  simple  one,  but  I  do 
not  propose  to  tell  it  now  except  by  analogy,  in  order 
not  to  get  anybody  into  trouble. 

During  my  last  voyage  across  the  ocean,  which  was 
on  the  Dutch  liner  Rotterdam,  I  went  into  the  fo'castle 
one  day  to  talk  to  a  stowaway,  a  simple  young  East 
Prussian  lad,  who  had  gone  to  sea  and  had  found  him- 
self in  the  United  States  at  the  outbreak  of  war. 

"How  on  earth  did  you  manage  to  pass  through  the 
iron-clad  regulations  at  the  docks  of  Hoboken  (New 
York)  without  a  permit,  and  why  did  you  do  it?"  I 
asked. 

"I  was  home-sick,"  he  answered,  "and  I  wanted  to 


IRON  HAND  IN  ALSACE-LORRAINE  217 

go  back  to  Germany  to  see  my  mother.  I  got  on  board 
quite  easily.  I  noticed  a  gentleman  carrying  his  own 
baggage,  and  I  said  to  him,  'Can  I  carry  your  suit- 
cases on  board,  sir  ?' ' 

Once  on  board  his  knowledge  of  ships  told  him  how 
to  hide. 

Having  myself  stood  for  more  than  two  hours  on  the 
quay  in  a  long  and  growling  queue  of  passengers,  I 
could  not  but  be  amused  by  the  simple  device  by  which 
this  country  youth  had  outwitted  the  stringent  war  em- 
barkation regulations  of  war-time  New  York.  He  was 
in  due  course  taken  off  by  the  British  authorities  at 
Falmouth,  and  is  now  probably  enjoying  the  sumptuous 
diet  provided  at  the  Alexandra  Palace  or  the  Isle  of 
Man. 

Well,  that  is  not  exactly  how  I  got  into  Strassburg, 
but  I  got  in. 

Night  had  fallen  when  I  crossed  the  Rhine  from 
Baden.  I  was  conscious  of  an  indescribable  thrill  when 
my  feet  touched  the  soil  so  sacred  to  all  Frenchmen, 
and  I  somehow  felt  as  if  I  were  walking  in  fairyland 
as  I  pushed  on  in  the  dark.  I  had  good  fortune, 
arising  from  the  fact  that  a  great  troop  movement 
was  taking  place,  with  consequent  confusion  and 
crowding. 

On  all  sides  from  the  surrounding  girdle  of  forts  the 
searchlights  swept  the  sky,  and  columns  of  weary  sol- 
diers tramped  past  me  on  that  four-mile  road  that  led 
into  Strassburg.  I  kept  as  close  to  them  as  possible 
with  some  other  pedestrians,  labourers  returning  from 
the  great  electric  power  plant. 

Presently  I  was  alone  on  the  road  when  suddenly  a 


2 1 8     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

soldier  lurched  from  the  shadows  and  accosted  me.  I 
let  him  do  the  talking.  But  there  was  no  need  to  be 
alarmed ;  he  was  only  a  drunken  straggler  who  had  got 
separated  from  his  company  and  wanted  to  know 
whether  any  more  troops  were  coming  on. 

I  had  already  passed  through  two  cordons  of  func- 
tionaries outside,  and  felt  little  fear  in  Strassburg  it- 
self, so  long  as  I  was  duly  cautious.  I  had  thought  out 
my  project  carefully.  I  realised  that  I  must  sleep  in 
the  open ;  for,  unprovided  with  a  pass  it  was  impossible 
for  me  to  go  to  an  hotel.  Thankful  that  I  was  familiar 
with  my  surroundings  I  wended  my  way  to  the  beauti- 
ful park,  the  Orangerie,  where  I  made  myself  com- 
fortable in  a  clump  of  bushes  and  watched  the  unceas- 
ing flash  of  searchlights  criss-cross  in  the  sky  until  I 
fell  asleep. 

Next  day  I  continued  my  investigations,  but  in  Al- 
sace as  elsewhere  my  personal  adventures  are  of  no  im- 
portance to  the  world  unless,  as  in  some  instances,  they 
throw  light  on  conditions  or  are  necessary  to  support 
statements  made,  whereas  the  facts  set  down  belong  to 
the  history  of  the  war.  Therefore  I  shall  here  sum- 
marise what  I  found  in  the  old  French  province. 

The  Germans  have  treated  Alsace-Lorraine  ruth- 
lessly since  the  outbreak  of  war.  In  no  part  of  the 
Empire  is  the  iron  hand  so  evident.  In  Strassburg  it- 
self all  signs  of  the  French  have  disappeared.  Readers 
who  know  the  place  well  will  remark  that  they  were 
vanishing  before  the  war.  Externally  they  have  now 
gone  altogether,  but  the  hearts  and  spirit  of  the  people 
are  as  before. 

What  I  saw  reminded  me  of  the  words  of  a  Social 


IRON  HAND  IN  ALSACE-LORRAINE  219 

Democrat  friend  in  Berlin,  who  told  me  that  the  Prus- 
sian Government  determined  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war  that  they  would  have  no  more  Alsace-Lorraine 
problem  in  the  future. 

They  have,  therefore,  sent  the  soldiers  from  these  two 
provinces  to  the  most  dangerous  places  at  the  various 
fronts.  One  Alsace  regiment  was  hurled  again  and 
again  at  the  old  British  Army  on  the  Yser  in  Novem- 
ber, 1914,  until  at  the  end  of  a  week  only  three  officers 
and  six  men  were  left  alive.  Some  of  the  most  perilous 
work  at  Verdun  was  forced  upon  the  Alsatians. 

The  Prussian  authorities  deliberately  retain  with 
the  colours  Alsatians  and  Lorrainers  unfit  for  military 
service,  and  wounded  men  are  not  allowed  to  return  to 
their  homes. 

In  the  little  circle  to  which  I  was  introduced  in 
Strassburg  I  talked  with  one  sorrowing  woman,  who 
said  that  her  son,  obviously  in  an  advanced  state  of 
tuberculosis,  had  been  called  up  in  spite  of  protests. 
He  died  within  three  weeks.  Another  young  man,  suf- 
fering from  haemorrhage  of  the  lungs,  was  called  up. 
He  was  forced  to  stand  for  punishment  all  one  winter's 
day  in  the  snow.  In  less  than  two  months  a  merciful 
death  in  a  military  hospital  released  him  from  the 
Prussian  clutch. 

The  town  of  Strassburg  is  a  vast  hospital.  I  do  not 
think  I  have  ever  seen  so  many  Red  Cross  flags  before. 
They  waved  from  the  Imperial  Palace,  the  public  li- 
brary, the  large  and  excellent  military  hospitals,  the 
schoolhouses,  hotels,  and  private  residences.  The 
Orangerie  is  thronged  with  convalescent  wounded,  and 
when  hunger  directed  my  steps  to  the  extensive  Park 


2  20     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Restaurant  I  found  it,  too,  converted  into  a  hospital. 
Even  the  large  concert  room  was  crowded  with  cots. 

The  glorious  old  sandstone  Cathedral,  with  its  gor- 
geous facade  and  lace-like  spire,  had  a  Red  Cross  flag 
waving  over  the  nave  while  a  wireless  apparatus  was 
installed  on  the  spire.  Sentries  paced  backwards  and 
forwards  on  the  uncompleted  tower,  which  dominates 
the  region  to  the  Vosges. 

The  whole  object  of  Prussia  is  to  eliminate  every 
vestige  of  French  influence  in  the  two  provinces.  The 
use  of  the  French  language,  whether  in  speech  or  writ- 
ing, is  strictly  forbidden.  To  print,  sell,  offer  for  sale, 
or  purchase  anything  in  French  is  to  commit  a  crime. 
Detectives  are  everywhere  on  the  alert  to  discover  vio- 
lations of  the  law.  All  French  trade  names  have  been 
changed  to  their  German  equivalents.  For  example, 
the  sign  Guillaume  Rondee,  Tailleur,  has  come  down, 
and  if  the  tradesman  wants  to  continue  in  his  business 
Wilhelm  Rondee,  Schneider,  must  go  up.  He  may  have 
a  quantity  of  valuable  business  forms  or  letter-heads  in 
French — even  if  they  contain  only  one  French  word 
they  must  be  destroyed.  And  those  intimate  friends 
who  are  accustomed  to  address  him  by  his  first  name 
must  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  Wilhelm. 

Eloi'se  was  a  milliner  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  To- 
day, if  she  desires  to  continue  her  business,  she  is 
obliged  to  remove  the  final  "e"  and  thus  Germanise  her 
name. 

After  having  been  fed  in  Berlin  on  stories  of  Alsatian 
loyalty  to  the  Kaiser,  I  was  naturally  puzzled  by  these 
things.  If  Guillaume  had  rushed  into  the  street  to 
cheer  the  German  colours  when  the  French  were  driven 


IRON  HAND  IN  ALSACE-LORRAINE  221 

back,  and  Eloi'se  had  hung  upon  the  neck  of  the  German 
Michael,  was  it  not  rather  ungrateful  of  the  Prussians 
subsequently  to  persecute  them  even  to  the  stamping 
out  of  their  names  ?  Not  only  that,  but  to  be  so  efficient 
in  hate  that  even  inscriptions  on  tombstones  may  no 
longer  be  written  in  French? 

Alsace-Lorraine  is  to  be  literally  Elsass-Lothringen 
to  the  last  detail. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the  Alsatians  greeted 
the  French  as  deliverers  and  were  depressed  when  they 
fell  back.  This,  as  might  be  expected,  exasperated 
Prussia,  for  it  was  a  slap  in  the  face  for  her  system  of 
government  by  oppression.  Thus,  at  the  very  time  that 
the  NacJirichtendienst  (News  Service)  connected  with 
the  Wilhelmstrasse  was  instructing  Germans  and  neu- 
trals that  the  Alsatians'  enthusiastic  reception  of  Ger- 
man troops  was  evidence  of  their  approval  of  German 
rule,  the  military  authorities  were  posting  quite  a  dif- 
ferent kind  of  notice  in  Alsace,  a  notice  which  reveals 
the  true  story. 

"During  the  transport  of  French  prisoners  of  war  a 
portion  of  the  populace  has  given  expression  to  a  feel- 
ing of  sympathy  for  these  prisoners  and  for  France. 
This  is  to  inform  all  whom  it  may  concern  that  such 
expressions  of  sympathy  are  criminal  and  punishable, 
and  that,  should  they  again  take  place,  the  persons  tab 
ing  part  in  them  will  be  proceeded  against  by  court- 
martial,  and  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  will  be  sum- 
marily deprived  of  the  privileges  they  now  enjoy.  ^ 

"All  crowding  around  prisoners  of  war,  conversations 
with  them,  cries  of  welcome  and  demonstrations  of  sym- 
pathy of  all  kinds,  as  well  as  the  supply  of  gifts,  is 


222     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

strictly  prohibited.  It  is  also  forbidden  to  remain 
standing  while  prisoners  are  being  conducted  or  to  fol- 
low the  transport." 

The  result  of  the  persecution  of  the  French-speaking 
portion  of  the  population  has  been  a  boomerang  for 
Prussia.  The  Germans  of  the  region,  most  of  whom 
never  cared  much  for  Prussia,  are  now  bitterly  hostile 
to  her,  and  thus  it  is  that  all  citizens  of  Alsace,  whether 
French  or  German,  who  go  into  other  parts  of  Germany 
are  under  the  same  police  regulations  as  alien  enemies. 

In  order  to  permit  military  relentlessness  to  proceed 
smoothly  without  any  opposition,  the  very  members  of 
the  local  Parliament,  the  Strassburg  Diet,  are  abso- 
lutely muzzled.  They  have  been  compelled  to  promise 
not  to  criticise  at  any  time,  or  in  any  way,  the  military 
control ;  otherwise  their  Parliament  will  be  closed.  As 
for  the  Local  Councils,  they  are  not  allowed  to  discuss 
any  political  questions  whatsoever.  A  representative 
of  the  police  is  present  at  every  meeting  to  enforce  this 
rule  to  the  letter. 

The  people  do  not  even  get  the  sugared  Reichstag  re- 
ports, as  does  the  rest  of  Germany.  These  are  specially 
re-censored  at  Miilhouse.  The  official  reports  of  the 
General  Staff  are  often  days  late,  and  sometimes  do  not 
appear  at  all.  In  no  part  of  the  war  zone  is  there  so 
much  ignorance  about  what  is  happening  at  the  various 
fronts  as  in  the  two  "lost  provinces." 

Those  who  do  not  sympathise  with  Germany  in  her 
career  of  conquest  upon  which  she  so  joyfully  and  ruth- 
lessly embarked  in  August,  1914,  may  well  point  to 
Alsace-Lorraine  as  an  argument  against  the  probability 


IRON  HAND  IN  ALSACE-LORRAINE  223 

of  other  peoples  delighting  in  the  rule  which  she  would 
force  upon  them. 

She  has  become  more  intolerant,  not  less,  in  the  old 
French  provinces.  It  will  be  recalled  that  by  the  Treaty 
of  Frankfurt,  signed  in  March,  1871,  they  became  a 
"Reichsland,"  that  is,  an  Imperial  Land,  not  a  self- 
governing  State  like  Bavaria,  Saxony,  or  Wiirttemberg. 
As  Bismarck  bluntly  and  truly  said  to  the  Alsatian 
deputies  in  the  Reichstag:  "It  is  not  for  your  sakes 
nor  in  your  interests  that  we  conquered  you,  but  in  the 
interests  of  the  Empire." 

For  more  than  forty  years  Prussia  has  employed 
every  means  but  kindness  to  Germanise  the  conquered 
territory.  But  though  she  has  hushed  every  syllable  of 
French  in  the  elementary  schools  and  forced  the  chil- 
dren to  learn  the  German  language  and  history  only; 
though  freedom  of  speech,  liberty  of  the  Press,  rights 
of  public  meeting,  have  been  things  unknown;  though 
even  the  little  children  playing  at  sand  castles  have 
been  arrested  and  fined  if  in  their  enthusiasm  they 
raised  a  tiny  French  flag,  or  in  the  excitement  of  their 
mock  contest  cried  "Vive  la  France !" ;  though  men  and 
women  have  been  fined  and  thrown  into  prison  for  the 
most  trifling  manifestations  that  they  had  not  become 
enthusiastic  for  their  rulers  across  the  Rhine;  and 
though  most  of  the  men  filling  Government  positions — 
and  they  are  legion — are  Prussians,  the  Alsatians  pre- 
serve their  individuality  and  remain  uncowed. 

Having  failed  in  two  score  of  years  to  absorb  them 
by  force,  Prussia  during  the  war  has  sought  by  scien- 
tific methods  carried  to  any  extreme  to  blot  out  for  ever 
themselves  and  their  spirit. 


224    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

To  do  the  German  credit,  I  believe  that  he  is  sincere 
when  he  believes  that  his  rule  would  be  a  benefit  to 
others  and  that  he  is  genuinely  perplexed  when  he  dis- 
covers that  other  people  do  not  like  his  regulations.  The 
attitude  which  I  have  found  in  Germany  towards  other 
nationalities  was  expressed  by  Treitschke  when  he  said, 
"We  Germans  know  better  what  is  good  for  Alsace  than 
the  unhappy  people  themselves." 

The  German  idea  of  how  she  should  govern  other 
people  is  an  anachronism.  This  idea,  which  I  have 
heard  voiced  all  over  Germany,  was  aptly  set  forth  be- 
fore the  war  by  a  speaker  on  "The  Decadence  of  the 
British  Empire,"  when  he  sought  to  prove  such  deca- 
dence by  citing  the  fact  that  there  was  only  one  British 
soldier  to  every  4,000  of  the  people  of  India.  "Why," 
he  concluded,  "Germany  has  more  soldiers  in  Alsace- 
Lorraine  alone  than  Great  Britain  has  in  all  India." 

That  is  a  bad  spirit  for  the  world,  and  it  is  a  bad 
spirit  for  Germany.  She  herself  will  receive  one  great 
blessing  from  the  war  if  it  is  hammered  out  of  her. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE   WOMAN   IN   THE   SHADOW 

HE  handling  of  the  always  difficult  question  of  the 
eternal  feminine  was  firmly  tackled  by  the  Ger- 
man Government  almost  immediately  after  the  out- 
break of  war. 

To  understand  the  differences  between  the  situation 
here  and  in  Germany  it  is  necessary  first  to  have  a  lit- 
tle understanding  of  the  German  woman  and  her  status. 
With  us,  woman  is  treated  as  something  apart,  some- 
thing on  a  pedestal.  In  Germany  and  in  Austria  the 
situation  is  reversed.  The  German  man  uses  his  home 
as  a  place  to  eat  and  sleep  in,  and  be  waited  upon.  The 
attitude  of  the  German  woman  towards  the  man  is 
nearly  always  that  of  the  obedient  humble  servant  to 
command.  If  a  husband  and  wife  are  out  shopping  it 
is  often  enough  the  wife  who  carries  the  parcels.  In 
entering  any  public  place  the  middle-class  man  walks 
first  and  the  wife  dutifully  follows.  When  leaving,  it 
is  the  custom  for  the  man  to  be  helped  with  his  coat  be- 
fore the  woman.  Indeed,  she  is  generally  left  to  shift 
for  herself. 

Woman  is  the  under  sex,  the  very  much  under  sex,  in 
Germany,  regarded  by  the  man  as  his  plaything  or  as 
his  cook-wife  and  nurse  of  his  children;  and  she  will 
continue  to  be  the  under  sex  until  she  develops  pride 
enough  to  assert  herself.  She  accepts  her  inferiority 

225 


226     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

•without  murmur;  indeed,  she  often  impresses  one  as 
delighting  in  it. 

It  is  no  dishonour  for  a  girl  of  the  middle  or  lower 
class  to  have  a  liaison  with  some  admirer,  particularly 
if  he  is  a  student  or  a  young  officer ;  in  fact,  it  is  quite 
the  proper  thing  for  him  to  be  welcomed  by  her  parents, 
although  it  is  perfectly  well  understood  that  he  has  not 
the  slightest  idea  of  marrying  her.  The  girls  are  doing 
their  part  to  help  along  the  doctrine  of  free  love,  the 
preaching  and  practice  of  which  are  so  greatly  increas- 
ing in  the  modern  German  State. 

After  marriage  the  woman's  influence  in  the  world  is 
nearly  zero.  The  idolatry  of  titles  is  carried  to  an 
extreme  in  Germany  which  goes  from  the  pathetic  to 
the  ludicrous.  One  does  not  address  a  German  lady  by 
her  surname,  as  Frau  Schmidt,  but  by  her  husband's 
title  or  position,  as  Frau  Hauptmann  (Mrs.  Captain), 
Frau  Doktor,  Frau  Professor,  Frau  Backermeister 
(Mrs.  Bakershopowner),  or  even  Frau  Schornstein- 
fegermeister  (Mrs.  Master  Chimneysweep),  although 
her  husband  may  be  master  over  only  some  occasional 
juvenile  assistant.  In  military  social  functions,  and 
they  are  of  daily  occurrence  in  garrison  towns,  Mrs. 
Colonel  naturally  takes  precedence  in  all  matters  over 
the  wives  and  daughters  of  other  members  of  the  regi- 
ment. Contemplate  the  joyful  existence  of  a  vivacious 
American  or  British  girl,  accustomed  to  the  respectful 
consideration  of  the  other  sex,  married  to  a  young  lieu- 
tenant and  ruled  over  by  all  the  wives  of  his  superior 
officers ! 

To  try  to  marry  money  is  considered  praiseworthy 
and  correct  in  German  militarv  circles.  In  Prussia  a 


THE  WOMAN  IN  THE  SHADOW    227 

lieutenant  in  peace  times  receives  for  the  first  three 
years  £60  a  year,  from  the  fourth  to  the  sixth  year  £85, 
from  the  seventh  to  the  ninth  year  £99,  from  the  tenth 
to  the  twelfth  year  £110,  and  after  the  twelfth  year 
£120  a  year.  A  captain  receives  from  the  first  to  the 
fourth  year  £170,  from  the  fifth  to  the  eighth  year 
£230,  and  the  ninth  year  and  after  £255. 

Thus  it  is  that  no  young  lady,  however  ugly,  need  be 
without  an  officer  husband  if  she  has  money  enough  to 
buy  one.  If  he  has  not  a  private  income,  the  Govern- 
ment forbids  him  to  marry  until  his  pay  is  sufficient. 
That  point  is  seldom  reached  before  he  is  thirty-five 
years  of  age.  Marriage  helps  him  out  of  the  difficulty, 
and  since  the  army  is  so  deified  in  the  Fatherland  that 
the  highest  ambition  of  nearly  every  girl  is  to  marry  an 
officer,  his  opportunity  of  trading  shoulder-knots  for  a 
dowry  is  excellent. 

The 'efforts  of  some  women  to  increase  their  fortune 
sufficiently  to  enable  them  to  invest  in  a  military  better- 
half  are  pathetic  from  an  Anglo-Saxon  point  of  view. 
One  woman  who  requested  an  interview  with  me  said 
that  as  I  was  an  American  correspondent  I  might  be 
able  to  advise  her  how  she  could  dispose  of  a  collection 
of  autographs  to  some  American  millionaire.  She  ex- 
plained that  her  financial  condition  was  not  so  good  as 
formerly,  but  she  was  desperate  to  better  it  as  she  was 
in  love  with  an  officer,  who,  although  he  loved  her, 
would  have  to  marry  another  if  she  could  not  increase 
her  income.  The  autographs  she  showed  me  were  from 
Prince  Henry  of  Prussia,  Prince  Billow  and  other  not- 
ables, and  most  of  them  were  signed  to  private  letters. 

Take  the  story  of  Marie  and  Fritz,  both  of  whom  I 


228     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

knew  in  a  garrison  city  in  eastern  Germany,  Nothing 
could  illustrate  better  the  difference  between  the  Ger- 
man attitude  and  our  own  on  certain  matters.  She 
was  a  charming,  lovable  girl  of  nineteen  engaged  to  an 
impecunious  young  lieutenant  a  few  years  older.  They 
moved  in  the  best  circle  in  the  Garnisonsiadt. 

Two  years  after  their  engagement  her  father  lost 
heavily  in  business  and  could  no  longer  afford  to  settle 
£5,000  on  her  to  enable  them  to  marry. 

It  mattered  not ;  theirs  was  true  love,  and  they  would 
wait  until  his  pay  was  sufficient. 

All  went  well  until  another  girl,  as  unattractive  as 
Marie  was  charming,  decided  that  she  would  try  to  buy 
Fritz  as  a  husband.  After  four  months  of  her  acquaint- 
ance he  found  time  at  the  end  of  a  day's  drill  to  write  a 
few  lines  informing  the  young  lady,  nine  years  of  whose 
life  he  had  monopolised,  of  his  intention  to  marry  the 
new  rival.  Life  became  black  for  Marie,  the  more  as 
she  realised  that  she  and  Fritz  had  only  to  wait  a  little 
longer  and  his  pay  would  be  sufficient. 

How  would  Fritz  be  regarded  in  this  country,  and 
how  was  he  regarded  according  to  German  standards  ? 
That  is  what  makes  the  story  worth  telling.  With  us 
such  a  man  as  Fritz  would  have  been  cut  socially  and 
there  would  have  been  great  sympathy  for  the  sweet 
girl  whose  years  had  been  wasted.  But  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Rhine  women  exist  solely  for  the  comfort 
of  men.  In  militaristic  Germany  Fritz  lost  not  an  iota 
of  the  esteem  of  his  friends  of  either  sex ;  as  for  Marie, 
she  had  failed  in  a  fair  game,  that  was  all.  The  girl's 
mother  even  excused  his  conduct  by  saying  that  he  was 
ambitious  to  get  ahead  in  the  army.  Like  most  of  her 


THE  WOMAN  IN  THE  SHADOW    229 

sex  in  Germany  she  has  been  reared  to  venerate  the 
uniform  so  much  that  anything  done  by  the  man  who 
wears  it  is  quite  excusable.  Indeed,  Marie's  mother 
still  listens  with  respectful  approval  at  Kaffeeklatsch 
to  Fritz's  mother  when  she  boasts  of  what  her  son  is 
doing  as  a  major  over  Turkish  troops. 

German  women  have  many  estimable  qualities,  but  a 
proper  amount  of  independence  and  pride  is  noticeably 
foreign  to  their  natures.  Is  it  surprising  that  the  Amer- 
ican girl  of  German  parents  requires  only  a  very  brief 
visit  to  the  Fatherland  to  convince  her  that  the  career 
of  the  Hausfrau  is  not  attractive. 

On  the  whole,  the  efforts  of  the  German  woman  have 
almost  doubled  the  national  output  of  war  energy.  Ex- 
cept in  Berlin  few  are  idle,  and  these  only  among  the 
newly-rich  class.  The  women  of  the  upper  classes,  both 
in  Germany  and  Austria,  are  either  in  hospitals  or  are 
making  comforts  for  the  troops.  Women  have  always 
worked  harder  in  Germany  and  at  more  kinds  of  work 
than  in  Britain  or  the  States,  and  what,  judging  by 
London  illustrated  papers,  seems  to  be  a  novelty — the 
engagement  of  women  in  agricultural  and  other  pur- 
suits— is  just  the  natural  way  of  things  in  Germany. 
It  should  always  be  remembered,  when  estimating  Ger- 
man man-power  and  German  ability  to  hold  out,  that 
the  bulk  of  the  work  of  civil  life  is  being  done  by  pris- 
oners and  women.  A  German  woman  and  a  prisoner 
of  war,  usually  a  Kussian,  working  side  by  side  in  the 
fields  is  a  common  sight  throughout  Germany. 

It  is  the  boast  of  the  Germans  that  their  building 
constructions  are  going  on  as  usual.  I  have  myself 


230     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

seen  plenty  of  evidence  of  this,  such  as  the  grading  of 
the  Isar  at  Munich,  the  completion  of  the  colossal  rail- 
way station  at  Leipzig,  the  largest  in  Germany,  the 
construction  of  the  new  railway  station  at  Gorlitz,  the 
complete  building  since  the  war  of  the  palatial  Hotel 
Astoria  at  Leipzig,  also  two  gigantic  new  steel  and  con- 
crete palaces  in  the  same  city  for  the  semi-annual  fair, 
the  erection  of  a  new  Hamburg-America  Line  office 
building  adjacent  to  the  old  one  and  dwarfing  it.  The 
slaughter-house  annexes,  contracted  for  in  days  of 
peace,  continue  their  slow  growth,  although  Berlin  has 
no  present  need  for  such  extension  in  these  half-pound- 
of-meat-a-week  times. 

The  construction  of  the  !NTord-Siid  Bahn  of  the  under- 
ground railway,  for  linking  iip  the  north  and  south  sec- 
tions of  Berlin  has  proceeded  right  along,  the  women 
down  in  the  pit  with  picks  and  shovels  doing  the  heavy 
work  of  navvies.  That  department  of  the  German  Gov- 
ernment whose  duty  it  is  to  enlighten  Neutrals  is  not 
too  proud  of  the  fact,  surprisingly  enough.  An  Amer- 
ican kinematograph  operator,  Mr.  Edwards,  of  Mr. 
Hearst's  papers,  was  desirous  of  taking  a  film  of  the&e 
women  navvies — heavy,  sad  creatures  they  are.  The 
Government  stepped  in  and  suggested  that,  although 
they  had  no  objection  to  a  personally  conducted  and 
posed  picture — in  which  the  women  would  no  doubt 
smile  to  order — they  could  not  permit  the  realities  of 
this  unwomanly  task  to  be  shown  in  the  form  of  a  truth- 
telling  moving  picture. 

German  authorities  are  utilising  every  kind  of 
woman.  The  social  evil,  against  which  the  Bishop  of 
London  and  others  are  agitating  in  England,  was  effec- 


THE  WOMAN  IN  THE  SHADOW    231 

tivelj  dealt  with  by  the  German  authorities,  not  only 
for  the  sake  of  the  health  of  the  troops,  but  in  the  in- 
terests of  munitions.  Women  of  doubtful  character 
were  first  told  that  if  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
barracks  or  in  cafes  they  were  liable  to  be  arrested,  and 
when  so  found  were  immediately  removed  to  their  na- 
tive places,  and  put  into  the  nearest  cartridge  filling  or 
other  shop.  The  double  effect  has  been  an  increased 
output  of  munitions  for  the  army  and  increased  health 
for  the  soldier,  and  such  scenes  as  one  may  witness  in 
Piccadilly  or  other  London  streets  at  night  have  been 
effectively  squelched  by  the  strong  Prussian  hand,  with 
benefit  to  all  concerned. 

I  am  not  speaking  of  German  morals  in  general, 
which  are  notorious.  I  merely  state  the  practical  way 
the  Germans  turn  the  women  of  the  street  into  useful 
munition  makers. 

The  lot  of  the  German  woman  has  been  much  more 
difficult  than  the  lot  of  her  sister  in  the  Allied  countries, 
for  upon  her  has  fallen  the  great  and  increasing  burden 
of  the  struggle  to  get  enough  to  eat  for  her  household. 
In  practically  all  classes  of  Germany  it  has  been  the 
custom  of  the  man  to  come  home  from  his  work, 
whether  in  a  Government  office,  bank,  or  factory,  for 
his  midday  meal,  usually  followed  by  an  hour's  sleep. 

The  German  man  is  often  a  greedy  fellow  as  regards 
meals.  For  him  special  food  is  always  provided,  and 
the  wife  and  children  sit  round  patiently  watching  him 
eat  it.  He  expects  special  food  to-day.  The  soldier, 
of  course,  is  getting  it,  and  properly,  but  the  stay-at- 
homes,  who  are  men  over  forty-five  or  lads  under  nine- 
teen, still  get  the  best  of  such  food  as  can  be  got.  Ex- 


232     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

ceptions  to  the  nineteen  to  forty-five  rule  are  very  few 
indeed.  National  work  in  Germany  means  war  work 
pure  and  simple,  and  now  the  women  are  treated  ex- 
actly as  the  men  in  this  respect,  except  that  they  will 
not  be  sent  to  the  front. 

In  January,  1917,  Germany  at  length  began  formally 
to  organise  the  women  of  the  country  to  help  in  the 
war.  Each  of  the  six  chief  army  "commands"  through- 
out the  Empire  now  has  a  woman  attached  to  it  as 
Directress  of  the  "Division  for  Women's  Service." 
Hitherto,  as  in  England,  war  work  by  women  has  been 
entirely  voluntary.  The  Patriotic  Auxiliary  Service 
(Mass  Levy)  Law  is  not  compulsory  so  far  as  female 
labour  is  concerned.  German  women,  however,  having 
proclaimed  that  they  regard  themselves  liable  for 
national  service  under  the  spirit  if  not  the  letter 
of  the  law,  it  has  finally  been  decided  to  mobilise 
their  services  on  a  more  systematic  basis  than  in  the 
past. 

None  of  the  countless  revolutions  in  German  life 
produced  by  the  war  outstrips  in  historical  importance 
this  official  linking  up  of  women  with  the  military  ma- 
chine. Equally  striking  is  the  fact  that  the  directresses 
of  Women's  Service,  who  hold  office  in  Berlin,  Breslau, 
Magdeburg,  Coblenz,  Konigsberg,  and  Karlsruhe,  are 
all  feminist  leaders  and  promoters  of  the  women's  eman- 
cipation movement.  The  directress  for  the  Mark  of 
Brandenburg  (the  Berlin-Potsdam  district)  is  an  able 
Jewess  named  Dr.  Alice  Salomon,  who  is  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  the  German  women's  movement.  The  main 
object  of  the  "Women's  Service"  Department  is  to  or- 
ganise female  labour  for  munitions  and  other  work 


THE  WOMAN  IN  THE  SHADOW    233 

from   which   men   can   be  liberated   for   the   fighting 
line. 

I  have  nothing  but  praise  and  admiration  for  the  way 
in  which  the  German  women  have  thrown  themselves 
into  this  struggle.  Believing  implicitly  as  they  have 
been  told — and  with  the  exception  of  the  lower  classes, 
after  more  than  two  years  of  war,  they  believe  every- 
thing the  Government  tells  them — that  this  war  was 
carefully  prepared  by  "Sir  Grey"  (Lord  Grey  of  Fallo- 
don),  "the  man  without  a  conscience,"  as  he  is  called 
in  Germany,  they  feel  that  they  are  helping  to  fight  a 
war  for  the  defence  of  their  homes  and  their  children, 
and  the  cynics  at  the  German  Foreign  Office,  who  man- 
ufacture their  opinions  for  them,  rub  this  in  in  sermons 
from  the  pastors,  novels,  newspaper  articles,  faked 
cinema  films,  garbled  extracts  from  Allied  newspapers, 
books,  and  bogus  photographs,  Reichstag  orations  by 
Bethmann-Hollweg,  and  the  rest  of  it,  not  forgetting  the 
all-important  lectures  by  the  professors,  who  are  un- 
ceasing in  their  efforts  all  over  Germany. 

To  show  how  little  the  truth  of  the  war  is  under- 
stood by  the  German  women,  I  may  mention  an  inci- 
dent that  occurred  at  the  house  of  people  of  the  official 
class  at  which  I  was  visiting  one  day.  The  eldest  son, 
who  was  just  back  from  the  Somme  trenches,  suffering 
from  slight  shell-shock,  brought  home  a  copy  of  a  Lon- 
don illustrated  paper,  which  had  been  thrown  across 
the  trenches  by  the  English.  In  this  photograph  there 
was  a  picture  of  a  long  procession  of  German  prisoners 
captured  by  the  English.  The  daughter  of  the  house, 
a  well-read  girl  of  nineteen,  blazed  up  at  the  sight  of 
this  photograph,  and  showed  it  to  her  mother,  who  was 


234    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

equally  surprised.  The  son  of  the  house  remarked, 
"Surely  you  know  the  English  have  taken  a  great  many 
prisoners  ?" 

His  mother,  realising  her  mistake,  looked  confused, 
and  simply  said,  "I  didn't  think."  In  other  words,  the 
obvious  fact  that  Germans  were  sometimes  captured 
had  never  been  pointed  out  to  her  by  the  Government, 
and  most  Germans  are  accustomed  to  think  only  what 
they  are  officially  told  to  think. 

While  there  are  an  increasing  number  of  doubters 
among  the  German  males  as  to  the  accuracy  of  state- 
ments issued  by  the  Government,  in  the  class  with 
which  I  mostly  came  into  contact  in  Germany,  the 
women  are  blindfold  and  believe  all  they  are  told.  So 
strong,  too,  is  the  influence  of  Government  propaganda 
on  the  people  in  Germany  that  in  a  town  where  I  met 
two  English  ladies  married  to  Germans,  they  believed 
that  Germany  had  Verdun  in  her  grasp,  had  annihi- 
lated the  British  troops  (mainly  black)  on  the  Somme, 
had  defeated  the  British  Fleet  in  the  battle  of  Skager- 
rak  (Jutland),  and  reduced  the  greater  part  of  the  for- 
tifications, docks,  and  munition  factories  of  London  to 
ruins  by  Zeppelins. 

Their  anguish  for  the  fate  of  their  English  relations 
was  sincere,  and  they  were  intensely  hopeful  that 
Britain  would  accept  any  sort  of  terms  of  peace  in 
order  to  prevent  the  invasion  which  some  people  in  Ger- 
many still  believe  possible. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  click  of  the  knitting 
neeHle  was  heard  everywhere;  shop-girls  knitted  while 
waiting  for  customers,  women  knitted  in  trams  and 
trains,  at  theatres,  in  churches,  and,  of  course,  in  the 


THE  WOMAN  IN  THE  SHADOW    235 

home.  The  knitting  is  ceasing  now  for  the  very  prac- 
tical reason  that  the  military  authorities  have  comman- 
deered all  the  wool  for  the  clothing  of  the  soldiery.  A 
further  reason  for  the  stoppage  of  such  needlework  is 
the  fact  that  women  are  engaged  in  countless  forms 
of  definite  war  work. 

Upon  the  whole  it  is  beyond  question  that  the  Ger- 
man women  are  not  standing  the  losses  as  well  as  the 
British  women.  I  have  been  honoured  in  England  by 
conversations  with  more  than  one  lady  who  has  lost 
many  dear  ones.  The  attitude  is  quieter  here  than  in 
Germany,  and  is  not  followed  by  the  peace  talk  which 
such  events  produce  in  German  households. 

What  surprises  me  in  England  is  the  fact  that  the 
word  "peace"  is  hardly  ever  mentioned  anywhere, 
whereas  in  any  German  railway  train  or  tramcar  the 
two  dominant  words  are  Friede  (peace)  and  Essen 
(food).  The  peace  is  always  a  German  idea  of  peace 
— for  the  extreme  grumblers  do  not  talk  freely  in  pub- 
lic—and the  food  talk  is  not  always  the  result  of  the 
shortage,  but  of  the  great  difficulty  in  getting  what  is 
to  be  obtained,  together  with  the  increasing  monotony  of 
the  diet. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  life  of 
feminine  Germany  is  entirely  a  gloomy  round  of  duty 
and  suffering.  Among  the  women  of  the  poor,  things 
are  as  bad  as  they  can  be.  They  are  getting  higher 
wages  than  ever,  but  the  food  usury  and  the  blockade 
rob  them  of  the  increase. 

The  middle  and  upper  classes  still  devote  a  good  deal 
of  time  to  the  feminine  pursuits  of  shopping  and  dress- 
ing. The  outbreak  of  war  hit  the  fashions  at  a  curious 


236     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

moment.  Paris  had  just  abandoned  the  tight  skirt,  and 
a  comical  struggle  took  place  between  the  Government 
and  those  women  who  desired  to  be  correctly  gowned. 

The  Government  said,  "In  order  to  avoid  waste  of 
material,  you  must  stick  to  the  tight  skirt,"  and  the 
amount  of  cloth  allowed  was  carefully  prescribed. 
Women's  desire  to  be  in  the  mode  was,  however,  too 
powerful  for  even  Prussianism.  Copies  of  French 
fashion  magazines  were  smuggled  in  from  Paris 
through  Switzerland,  passed  from  dressmaker  to  dress- 
maker, and  house  to  house,  and  despite  the  military 
instructions  and  the  leather  shortage,  wide  skirts  and 
high  boots  began  to  appear  everywhere. 

This  feminine  ebullition  was  followed  by  an  appeal 
from  the  Government  to  abandon  all  enemy  example 
and  to  institute  new  German  fashions  of  their  own 
making.  Models  were  exhibited  in  shop  windows  of 
what  were  called  the  "old  and  elegant  Viennese  fash- 
ions." These,  however,  were  found  to  be  great  con- 
sumers of  material,  and  the  women  still  continued  to 
imitate  Paris. 

The  day  before  I  left  Berlin  I  heard  an  amusing 
conversation  in  the  underground  railway  between  two 
women,  one  of  whom  was  talking  about  her  hat.  She 
told  her  friend  that  she  found  the  picture  of  the  hat  in 
a  smuggled  fashion  paper,  and  had  it  made  at  her  mil- 
liner's and  she  was  obviously  very  pleased  with  her 
taste. 

The  women  in  the  munition  factories,  who  number 
millions,  wear  a  serviceable  kind  of  uniform  overall. 

The  venom  of  the  German  women  in  regard  to  the 
war  is  quite  in  contrast  to  the  feeling  expressed  by  Eng- 


THE  WOMAN  IN  THE  SHADOW    237 

lish  women.  They  have  read  a  great  deal  about  British 
and  American  women  and  they  cordially  detest  them. 
Their  point  of  view  is  very  difficult  to  explain.  When 
I  have  told  German  women  that  in  many  States  in  my 
country  women  have  votes,  their  reply  is,  "How  vul- 
gar!" Their  attitude  towards  the  whole  question  of 
women's  franchise  is  that  it  is  a  form  of  Anglo-Saxon 
lack  of  culture  and  lack  of  authority. 

The  freedom  accorded  to  English  and  American  girls 
is  entirely  misunderstood.  A  Dutch  girl  who,  in  the 
presence  of  some  German  ladies,  expressed  admiration 
for  certain  aspects  of  English  feminine  life,  was  fiercely 
and  venomously  attacked  by  that  never-failing  weapon, 
the  German  woman's  tongue.  The  poor  thing,  who 
mildly  expressed  the  view  that  hockey  was  a  good  game 
for  girls,  and  the  fine  complexions  and  elegant  walk  of 
English  women  were  due  to  outdoor  sports,  was  reduced 
almost  to  tears. 

The  intolerance  of  German  women  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  express.  I  know  a  case  of  one  young  girl,  a 
German-American,  whose  parents  returned  to  Ham- 
burg, who  declined  to  repeat  the  ridiculous  German 
formula,  "Gott  strafe  England,"  and  stuck  to  her  point, 
with  the  result  that  she  was  not  invited  to  that  circle 
again. 

To  the  cry  "Gott  strafe  England"  has  been  added 
"Gott  strafe  Amerika,"  the  latter  being  as  popular  with 
the  German  women  as  the  German  men.  The  pastors, 
professors,  and  the  Press  have  told  the  German  women 
that  their  husbands  and  sons  and  lovers  are  being  killed 
by  American  shells.  A  man  who  ought  to  know  better, 
like  Prince  Rupert  of  Bavaria,  made  a  public  statement 


238     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

that  half  of  the  Allies'  ammunition  is  American.  After 
the  British  and  French  autumn  offensive  of  1915  tfie 
feeling  against  America  on  the  part  of  German  women 
became  so  intense  that  the  American  flag  had  to  be 
withdrawn  from  the  American  hospital  at  Munich,  al- 
though that  hospital,  supported  by  German-American 
funds,  has  done  wonderful  work  for  the  German 
wounded. 

Arguments  with  German  women  about  the  war  are 
absolutely  futile.  They  follow  the  war  very  closely 
after  their  own  method,  and  believe  that  any  defeats, 
such  as  on  the  Somme  or  Verdun,  are  tactical  rear- 
rangements of  positions,  dictated  by  the  wisdom  of  the 
General  Staff,  and  so  long  as  no  Allied  troops  are  upon 
German  soil  so  long  will  the  German  populace  believe 
in  the  invincibility  of  its  army.  I  am  speaking  always 
of  the  middle  and  upper  classes,  who  are  on  the  whole, 
but  with  increasing  exceptions,  as  intensely  pro-war  as 
the  lower  classes  are  anti-war. 

The  modern  German  Bible  is  the  Zeitung  (the  rough 
translation  of  which  is  "newspaper")  and  German 
women  are  even  more  fanatical  than  the  men,  if  pos- 
sible, in  their  worship  of  it. 

On  one  occasion,  when  I  candidly  remarked  that  von 
Papen  and  Boy-Ed  came  back  to  the  Fatherland  for 
certain  unbecoming  acts,  some  of  which  I  enumerated, 
a  Frau  Hauptmann  jumped  to  her  feet  and,  after  the 
customary  brilliant  manner  of  German  argument, 
shrieked  that  I  was  a  liar.  She  declared  that  their 
Zeitung  had  said  nothing  about  the  charges  I  men- 
tioned, therefore  they  were  not  true.  She  further- 
more promised  to  report  me  to  Colonel  at  the 


THE  WOMAN  IN  THE  SHADOW    239 

Kriegsministerium  (War  Office),  and  she  kept  her 
word. 

The  neglect,  and,  in  some  cases  refusal,  to  attend  the 
British  wounded  by  German  nurses  are  a  sign  both  of 
their  own  intensity  of  feeling  in  regard  to  the  war  and 
their  entirely  different  mentality.  Again  and  again 
I  have  heard  German  women  say,  "In  the  event  of  a 
successful  German  invasion  of  England  the  women  will 
accompany  the  men,  and  teach  the  women  of  England 
that  war  is  war."  Their  remarks  in  regard  to  the 
women  of  my  own  country  are  equally  offensive.  In- 
deed, States  that  Germany  regards  as  neutral,  and  who 
are  treated  by  the  officially  controlled  German  Press 
with  a  certain  amount  of  respect,  are  loathed  by  Ger- 
man women.  Their  attitude  is  that  all  who  are  not  on 
their  side  are  their  enemies.  American  women  who  are 
making  shells  for  the  British,  French,  and  Kussians  are 
just  as  much  the  enemies  of  Germany  as  the  Allied  sol- 
diers and  sailors.  One  argument  often  used  is  that  to 
be  strictly  neutral  America  should  make  no  munitions 
at  all,  but  it  would  not  be  so  bad,  say  the  Germans,  if 
half  the  American  ammunition  went  to  Germany  and 
half  to  the  Allies. 

I  lost  my  temper  once  by  saying  to  one  elderly  red- 
faced  Erau,  "Since  you  have  beaten  the  British  at  sea, 
why  don't  you  send  your  ships  to  fetch  it?"  "Our 
fleet,"  she  said,  "is  too  busy  choking  the  British  Fleet 
in  its  safe  hiding  places  to  afford  time  to  go  to  Amer- 
ica. You  will  see  enough  of  our  fleet  one  day,  remem- 
ber that  1" 

Summing  up  this  brief  and  very  sketchy  analysis  of 
German  femininity  in  the  war,  I  reiterate  views  ex- 


240    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

pressed  on  previous  visits  to  Germany,  that  German 
women  are  not  standing  the  anxiety  of  the  war  as  well 
as  those  of  France  and  Britain. 

They  have  done  noble  work  for  the  Fatherland,  but 
the  grumblings  of  the  lower  third  of  the  population  are 
now  such  as  have  not  been  heard  since  1848.  German 
officials  in  the  Press  Department  of  the  Foreign  Office 
try  to  explain  the  unrest  away  to  foreign  correspond- 
ents like  myself,  but  many  thinking  Germans  are  sur- 
prised and  troubled  by  this  unexpected  manifestation 
on  the  part  of  those  who  for  generations  have  been  al- 
inoat  as  docile  and  easily  managed  as  children. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE   WAR  SLAVES  OF  ESSEN" 

ESSEN,  the  noisiest  town  in  the  world,  bulks  largely 
in  the  imagination  of  the  Entente  Allies,  but  "Es- 
sen" is  not  merely  one  city.  It  is  a  centre  or  capital  of 
a  whole  group  of  arsenal  towns.  Look  at  your  map  of 
Germany,  and  you  will  see  how  temptingly  near  they 
are  to  the  Dutch  frontier.  Look  at  the  proximity  of 
Holland  and  Essen,  and  you  will  understand  the  Dutch 
fear  of  Germany.  You  will  grasp  also  the  German 
fear,  real  as  well  as  pretended,  that  the  battle  of  the 
Somme  may  one  day  be  accompanied  by  a  thrust  at  the 
real  heart  of  Germany,  which  is  Westphalia — West- 
phalia with  its  coal  and  iron  and  millions  of  trained 
factory  hands. 

I  saw  when  in  Germany  extracts  from  speeches  by 
British  politicians  in  which  the  bombing  of  Essen  by 
air  was  advocated.  Perhaps  the  task  would  have  been 
easier  if  the  bombing  had  come  first  and  the  speeches 
afterwards.  Forewarned,  forearmed ;  and  Essen  is  now 
very  much  armed. 

All  German  railroads  seem  to  lead  to  this  war 
monster.  Attached  to  almost  every  goods  train  in  Ger- 
many you  will  see  wagons  marked  "Essen — special 
train."  Wagons  travel  from  the  far  ends  of  Austria 
and  into  Switzerland,  which  is  showing  its  strict  neu- 
trality by  making  munitions  for  both  sides. 

241 


242     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

On  the  occasion  of  my  second  visit  to  Essen  during 
the  war  I  arrived  at  night.  It  was  before  the  time  of 
the  bombing  speeches,  and,  though  it  was  well  into  the 
hours  when  the  world  is  asleep,  the  sky  glowed  red  with 
a  glare  that  could  be  seen  for  full  thirty  miles.  My 
German  companion  glowed  also,  as  he  opened  the  car- 
riage window  and  bade  me  join  him  in  a  peep  at  what 
we  were  coming  to.  "This  is  the  place  where  we  make 
the  stuff  to  blow  the  world  to  pieces,"  he  proudly 
boasted.  "If  our  enemies  could  only  see  that  the  war 
would  be  over." 

I  suggested  that  Essen  was  not  the  only  arsenal. 
There  were,  for  instance,  Woolwich,  Glasgow,  New- 
castle, Creusot,  and  in  my  own  strictly  neutral  country 
Bethlehem,  Bridgeport,  and  one  or  two  other  humble 
hamlets.  He  brushed  aside  my  remarks,  "But  we  have 
also  here  in  this  very  region  Dortmund,  Bochum,  Wit- 
ten,  Duisburg,  Krefeld,  Diisseldorf,  Solingen,  Elber- 
feld  and  Barmen." 

As  we  approached  nearer,  freight  trains,  military 
trains  and  passenger  trains  were  everywhere.  Officers 
and  soldiers  crowded  the  station  platforms,  and  though 
it  was  night  the  activity  of  these  Rhenish- Westphalian 
arsenal  towns  impressed  me  with  the  belief  that  unless 
the  British  blockade  can  strictly  exclude  essentials,  such 
as  copper  and  nickel,  especially  from  their  roaring  fac- 
tories, the  war  will  be  needlessly  protracted. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  be  long  in  Rhineland  and  West- 
phalia to  realise  that  a  shortage  in  these  and  other  es- 
sentials is  much  more  disturbing  to  the  heads  of  these 
wonderful  organisations  than  the  fear  of  aerial  bombs. 

On  the  occasion  of  my  first  war-time  visit  to  Essen 


THE  WAR  SLAVES  OF  ESSEN        243 

it  would  have  been  easy  to  have  bombed  it.  There  is 
an  old  saying  that  a  shoemaker's  children  are  the  worst 
shod,  and  the  display  of  anti-aircraft  guns  which  has 
since  manifested  itself  was  then  non-existent.  The 
town  was  ablaze.  It  is  still  ablaze,  but  the  lighting  has 
been  cunningly  arranged  to  deceive  nocturnal  visitors, 
and  any  aeroplanes  approaching  Essen  at  a  height  of 
twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  feet  would  find  it  hard  to  dis- 
cover which  was  Essen,  and  which  Borbeck,  and  which 
was  Steele. 

Miilheim  is  easily  found,  because  it  is  close  to  the 
River  Ruhr.  We  had  to  halt  a  long  time  outside  the 
station  of  Essen,  so  great  was  the  pressure  of  traffic. 
The  cordon  surrounding  the  entrance  to  the  city  is  some 
distance  away,  and  having  passed  that  safely  I  had  no 
fear  of  being  again  interrogated. 

I  told  the  hotel  manager  that  I  was  a  travelling  news- 
paper correspondent,  and  should  like  to  see  as  many  as 
possible  of  the  wonders  of  his  town.  After  praise  of 
his  hostelry,  which,  as  the  sub-manager  said,  was  too 
good  for  the  Essenites,  I  set  out  on  my  travels  to  see 
the  sights  of  the  city,  foremost  among  them  being  the 
regulation  statue  of  William  I. 

It  was  easy  to  find  Krupps,  for  I  had  only  to  turn 
my  steps  towards  the  lurid  panorama  in  the  sky.  As  I 
came  nearer,  not  only  my  sense  of  sight  but  my  sense 
of  hearing  told  me  that  Germany's  great  arsenal  was 
throbbing  with  unwonted  life.  The  crash  and  din  of 
mighty  steam  hammers  and  giant  anvils,  the  flame  and 
flash  of  roaring  blast  furnaces,  the  rumbling  of  great 
railway  trucks  trundling  raw  and  finished  products  in 
and  out,  chimneys  of  dizzy  height  belching  forth  mon- 


244     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

ster  coils  of  Cimmerian  smoke,  seem  to  transport  one 
from  the  prosaic  valley  of  the  Ruhr  into  the  deafening 
realm  of  Vulcan  and  Thor.  The  impression  of  Krupps 
by  night  is  ineffaceable.  The  very  air  exudes  iron  and 
energy.  You  can  almost  imagine  yourself  in  the  midst 
of  a  thunderous  artillery  duel.  You  are  at  any  rate  in 
no  doubt  that  the  myriad  of  hands  at  work  behind  those 
carefully  guarded  walls  are  even  more  vital  factors  in 
the  war  than  the  men  in  the  firing  line.  The  blaze  and 
roar  fill  one  with  the  overpowering  sense  of  the  Kaiser's 
limitless  resources  for  war-making.  For  you  must  roll 
Sheffield  and  Xewcastle-on-Tyne  and  Barrow-in-Fur- 
ness  into  one  clanging  whole  to  visualise  Essen-on-the- 
Ruhr. 

In  some  way  Essen  is  unlike  any  other  town  I  have 
visited.  It  has  its  own  internal  network  of  railways, 
running  to  and  from  the  various  branches  of  Krupps, 
and  as  the  trains  pass  across  the  streets  they  naturally 
block  the  traffic  for  some  minutes.  They  are  almost 
continuous  and  the  pedestrians'  progress  is  slow,  but  it 
is  exciting,  for  it  is  here  that  one  realises  what  it  means 
to  be  at  war  with  Germany.  If  the  resolution  of  the 
German  people  were  as  rigid  as  the  steel  in  the  great 
cranes  and  rolling  mills,  the  Allied  task  would  be  im- 
possible. 

The  brief  noon-tide  rush  of  the  workpeople  resembles 
our  six  o'clock  rush  in  America  towards  Brooklyn 
Bridge.  I  can  say  no  more  than  that.  There  is  noth- 
ing like  it  in  London.  The  home-going  crowd  round 
the  Bank  of  England  does  not  compare  with  the  Essen 
crowd,  because  the  crowd  at  Essen  is  for  a  few  minutes 
more  concentrated.  Old  and  young,  men  and  women, 


THE  WAR  SLAVES  OF  ESSEN        245 

refugees  and  prisoners  of  several  nationalities  (I  saw 
no  British),  Poles  and  Russians  predominating,  grimy, 
worn,  and  weary,  they  pour  out  in  a  solid  mass,  and 
cover  the  tramcars  like  bees  in  swarming  time.  The 
pedestrians  gradually  break  up  into  little  companies, 
most  of  them  going  to  Kronenberg  and  other  model  col- 
onies founded  by  Fran  Krupp — "Bertha,"  as  she  is 
affectionately  called  throughout  Germany.  The  highest 
honour  the  Germans  can  bestow  upon  her  is  to  name 
their  16-inch  howitzer  "Fat  Bertha."  Frau  Bertha 
Krupp,  it  may  be  well  to  recall,  was  the  heiress  to  tho 
great  Krupp  fortune,  and  on  her  marriage  in  1906  to 
Herr  von  Bohlen  und  Halbach,  a  diplomatist,  he 
changed  his  name  to  Krupp  von  Bohlen  und  Halbach. 

Though  a  private  corporation  with  £12,500,000  share 
capital  owned  by  the  "Cannon  Queen"  and  her  fam- 
ily, it  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  Government  De- 
partment just  as  Woolwich  Arsenal  is  an  adjunct  of  the 
British  War  Office.  In  the  past,  as  the  elaborate  cen- 
tenary (1910)  memorial  proudly  recites,  fifty-two  Gov- 
ernments throughout  the  world  have  bought  Krupp 
guns,  armour,  shells,  and  warships,  with  Germany  by 
far  the  biggest  customer. 

Out  of  the  stupendous  profits  of  war  machines  the 
Krupps  have  built  workpeople's  houses  that,  as  regards 
material  comfort,  would  not  be  easy  to  excel.  These 
houses  are  provided  with  ingenious  coal-saving  stoves, 
that  might  well  be  copied  elsewhere,  for  though  Essen 
is  in  the  coal  centre  of  Germany,  they  are  just  as  care- 
ful about  coal  as  though  it  were  imported  from  the 
other  end  of  the  world. 

Frau  Bertha  and  her  husband  (a  simple  and  modest 


246     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

man,  who  is,  I  was  informed,  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
his  specialists,  and  who  has  the  wisdom  to  let  well 
alone)  have  put  up  a  big  fight  with  Batocki,  the  food 
dictator.  The  semi-famine  had  not  reached  its  height 
when  I  was  in  Essen,  and  the  suffering  was  not  great 
there.  A  munition-maker  working  in  any  of  the  Rhen- 
ish-^Yestphalian  towns  is  regarded  by  Germans  as  a 
soldier.  As  the  war  has  proceeded  he  has  been  subject 
to  continuous  combing  out. 

The  amount  of  food  allowed  to  those  engaged  in 
these  great  factories  and  rolling  mills  is,  I  estimate,  33 
per  cent  more  than  that  allowed  to  the  rest  of  the  civil 
population.  In  all  the  notices  issued  throughout  Ger- 
many in  regard  to  further  food  restrictions,  there  is 
appended  the  line,  "This  change  is  necessary  owing  to 
the  need  for  fully  supplying  your  brothers  in  the  army 
and  the  munition  works." 

Essen  is  a  town  that  before  the  war  had  a  population 
exceeding  300,000.  A  conservative  estimate  makes  the 
figure  to-day  nearly  half  a  million.  The  Krupp  Com- 
pany employ  about  120,000.  A  prevalent  illusion  is 
that  Krupps  confine  their  war-time  effort  exclusively  to 
making  war  material.  .  That  is  a  mistake.  A  consider- 
able part  of  Krupp's  work  is  the  manufacture  of  ar- 
ticles which  can  be  exchanged  for  food  and  other  prod- 
ucts in  neighbouring  countries,  thus  taking  the  place  of 
gold.  At  Liibeck,  I  saw  the  quays  crowded  with  the 
products  of  Essen  in  the  shape  of  steel  girders  and  other 
building  machinery  going  to  Sweden  in  exchange  for 
oil,  lime  from  Gotland,  iron  ore,  paper,  wood,  and  food 
products. 

A  mining  engineer  of  the  great  mines  at  Kiruna, 


THE  WAR  SLAVES  OF  ESSEN        247 

Lapland,  told  me  that  he  had  just  given  an  order  for 
steam  shovels  from  the  Westphalian  manufacturers, 
who  are  also  sending  into  Holland  knives  and  scissors 
and  other  cutlery  and  tools. 

Germany's  principal  bargaining  commodities  with 
contiguous  neutral  nations  are  steel  building  materials, 
coal,  and  dye-stuffs.  Coal  dug  in  Belgium  by  Belgian 
miners  is  a  distinct  asset  for  Germany,  when  she  ex- 
changes it  for  Swiss  cattle,  Dutch  cheese,  and  Swedish 
wood.  When  we  consider  that  the  great  industrial 
combinations  of  Rhineland  and  Westphalia  are  not 
only  reaping  enormous  munition  profits,  but  supply  the 
steel  and  coal  which  form  the  bulk  of  German  war-time 
exports,  we  can  easily  understand  why  some  Social 
Democrats  grew  dissatisfied  because  the  all-powerful 
National  Liberals  resisted  a  war  profits  tax  for  two 
years.  It  is  noteworthy  that  several  of  the  more  out- 
spoken German  editors  have  been  suspended  for  attack- 
ing these  profiteers. 

I  should  qualify  this  statement  of  exports  slightly  by 
saying  that  they  pertained  up  to  November,  1916.  The 
effort  to  put  more  than  ten  million  men  into  military 
uniform  resulted  not  only  in  the  slave-raids  in  Belgium 
but  in  a  concentration  in  munition  output  that  stopped 
further  exports  of  steel  products  and  coal  on  a  large 
scale. 

We  should  always  remember  in  this  great  war  of 
machinery  that  Germany  secured  a  tremendous  advan- 
tage at  the  expense  of  France  at  the  outset  when  she 
occupied  the  most  important  French  iron  region  of 
Longwy-Briey.  The  Germans,  as  I  previously  observed, 
have  been  working  the  French  mines  to  the  utmost — 


248     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

indeed,  they  boast  that  they  have  installed  improyed 
machinery  in  them.  They  have,  furthermore,  been  im- 
porting ore  steadily  from  Sweden,  some  of  the  Swedish 
ore,  such  as  Dannemora,  being  the  best  in  the  world  for 
the  manufacture  of  tool  steel — so  important  in  muni- 
tion work. 

Diisseldorf,  probably  the  most  attractive  large  manu- 
facturing city  in  the  world,  had  planned  an  industrial 
exhibition  for  1915  or  1916,  and  the  steel  skeletons  of 
many  of  the  buildings  had  already  been  erected  at  the 
outbreak  of  war.  But  the  Germans  immediately  set  to 
work  to  tear  down  the  steel  frames  to  use  them  for  more 
practical  purposes.  "We  were  going  to  call  it  a  German 
Fair"  said  a  native  manufacturer  to  me  early  in  the 
war;  "but  we  can  have  it  later  and  call  it  a  World's 
Fair,  as  the  terms  will  be  synonymous." 

Isolated  near  the  Khine  is  the  immense  reconstructed 
Zeppelin  shed  which  British  airmen  in  November, 
1914,  partly  destroyed,  together  with  the  nearly  com- 
pleted Zeppelin  within  it.  The  daring  exploit  evidently 
work  up  the  newly  appointed  anti-aircraft  gunners,  for 
they  subsequently  annihilated  two  of  their  own  ma- 
chines approaching  from  the  West. 

The  badly  paid  war  slaves  of  Essen  are  working  the 
whole  twenty-four  hours,  seven  days  a  week,  in  three 
shifts  a  day  of  eight  hours  each,  under  strict  martial 
law.  The  town  is  a  hotbed  of  extreme  Social  Democ- 
racy, and  as  a  rule  the  Socialists  of  Westphalia  are 
almost  as  red  as  those  of  the  manufacturing  districts  of 
Saxony.  But  Socialists  though  they  be,  they  are  just 
as  anti-British  as  the  rest  of  Germany,  and  they  like 
to 'Send  out  their  products  with  the  familiar  hall-mark 


THE  WAR  SLAVES  OF  ESSEN        249 

of  "Gott  strafe  England,"  or  "Best  wishes  for  King 
George."  It  is  the  kind  of  Socialism  that  wants  more 
money,  more  votes,  less  work,  but  has  no  objection  to 
plenty  of  war.  It  is  a  common-sense  Socialism,  which 
knows  that  without  war  Essen  might  shrink  to  its  pre- 
war dimensions. 

Essen  is  very  jealous  of  the  great  Skoda  works  near 
Pilsen  in  Austria.  My  hotel  manager  spoke  with  some 
acerbity  of  the  amount  of  advertising  the  Austrian  siege 
howitzers  were  receiving.  "You  can  accept  my  assur- 
ance," he  said,  "that  the  guns  for  the  bombardment  of 
Dover  were  made  here,  and  not  at  the  skoda  works,  as 
the  Austrians  claim." 

Every  German  in  Essen  seems  to  feel  a  personal 
pride  in  the  importance  of  the  works  to  the  Empire  at 
the  fateful  hour.  The  42-centimetre  gun  "which  con- 
quered Belgium" — as  the  native  puts  it — is  almost  dei- 
fied. Everybody  struts  about  in  the  consciousness  that 
he  or  she  has  had  directly  or  indirectly  something  to  do 
with  the  murderous  weapon  which  has  wrought  such 
death  and  glory  in  Germany's  name.  "The  Empire  has 
the  men,  Essen  has  the  armour-plate,  the  torpedoes,  the 
shells,  the  guns.  It  is  the  combination  which  must 
win."  That  is  the  spirit  in  Kruppville. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

TOMMY  IN  GERMANY 

ONE  day  the  world  will  be  flooded  with  some  of  the 
most  dramatic,  horrible,  and  romantic  of  narra- 
tives— the  life-stories  of  the  British  soldiers  captured 
in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  their  gross  ill-treatment, 
their  escapes,  and  attempts  at  escape.  I  claim  to  be  the 
only  unofficial  neutral  with  any  large  amount  of  eye- 
witness, hand-to-hand  knowledge  of  those  poor  men  in 
Germany. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  tasks  I  assumed  during  the 
war  was  the  personal  and  unconducted  investigation  of 
British  prisoners  of  war.  The  visitor  is  only  allowed 
to  talk  with  prisoners  when  visiting  camps  under  the 
supervision  of  a  guide.  My  tramps  on  foot  all  over 
Germany  gave  me  valuable  information  on  this  as  on 
other  matters. 

My  task  was  facilitated  by  the  Germany  policy  of 
showing  the  hated  British  captives  to  as  many  people  as 
possible;  thus  the  30,000  men  have  been  scattered  into 
at  least  600  prison  camps.  In  the  depleted  state  of 
the  German  Army  it  is  not  easy  to  find  efficient  guards 
for  so  many  establishments.  Prisoners  are  constantly 
being  moved  about.  They  are  conveyed  ostentatiously 
and  shown  at  railway  stations  en  route,  where  until  re» 
cently  they  were  allowed  to  be  spat  upon  by  the  public, 
and  were  given  coffee  into  which  the  public  were  al- 

250 


TOMMY  IN  GERMANY  251 

lowed  to  spit.  These  are  but  a  few  of  the  slights  and 
abominations  heaped  upon  them.  Much  of  it  is  quite 
unprintable. 

Many  a  night  did  I  lie  awake  in  Berlin  cogitating 
how  to  get  into  touch  with  some  of  these  men.  I  learned 
something  on  a  previous  visit  in  1914,  when  I  saw  the 
British  prisoners  at  one  of  the  camps.  At  that  time  it 
was  impossible  to  get  into  conversation  with  them. 
They  were  efficiently  and  continually  guarded  by  com- 
paratively active  soldiers. 

On  this  occasion  I  came  across  my  first  British  pris- 
oner quite  by  accident,  and,  as  so  often  happens  in  life, 
difficult  problems  settle  themselves  automatically.  In 
nothing  that  I  write  shall  I  give  any  indication  of  tho 
whereabouts  of  the  sixty  prisoners  with  whom  I  con- 
versed privately,  but  there  can  be  no  harm  in  my  men- 
tioning the  whereabouts  of  my  public  visit,  which  took 
place  in  one  of  the  regular  neutral  "Cook's  tours"  of 
the  prisoners  in  Germany. 

The  strain  of  my  work  in  so  suspicious  a  place  as 
Berlin,  the  constant  care  required  to  guard  one's  ex- 
pressions, and  the  anxiety  as  to  whether  one  was  being 
watched  or  not  got  on  my  nerves  sometimes,  and  one 
Sunday  I  determined  to  take  a  day  off  and  go  into  the 
country  with  another  neutral  friend.  There,  by  acci- 
dent, I  came  across  my  first  private  specimen  of  Tommy 
in  Germany. 

We  were  looking  about  for  a  decent  Gasthaus  in 
which  to  get  something  to  eat  when  we  saw  a  notice 
high  up  in  large  type  on  a  wall  outside  an  old  farm- 
house building,  which  read: — 


252     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Jeder     Verkehr     der     Zivilbevblkerung     mil     den 
Kriegsgefangenen  ist  STRENG  VERBOTEN. 

"Any  intercourse  of  the  civil  population  with  the 
prisoners  of  war  is  strictly  forbidden." 

These  notices,  which  threaten  the  civilian  population 
with  heavy  penalties  if  they  exchange  any  words  with 
the  prisoners,  are  familiar  all  over  Germany,  but  I  did 
not  expect  to  find  them  in  that  small  village. 

My  neutral  friend  thought  it  would  make  a  nice 
photograph  if  I  would  stand  under  the  notice,  which  I 
did  after  a  cautious  survey  showed  that  the  coast  was 
clear. 

As  I  did  so  a  Russian  came  out  of  the  barn  and  said, 
in  rather  bad  German,  "Going  to  have  your  photograph 
taken?"  I  replied,  in  German,  "Yes." 

He  heard  me  speaking  English  to  my  friend,  and 
then,  looking  up  and  down  the  street  each  way  to  see  if 
we  were  being  watched,  he  addressed  me  in  English 
with  a  strong  Cockney  accent. 

"You  speak  English,  then  ?"  I  said. 

"I  am  English,"  he  replied.  "I'm  an  English  pris- 
oner." 

"Then  what  are  you  doing  in  a  Russian  uniform  ?" 

"It  is  the  only  thing  I  could  get  when  my  own  clothes 
wore  out."  Keeping  a  careful  eye  up  and  down  the 
street,  he  told  us  his  story.  He  was  one  of  the  old  Ex- 
peditionary Eorce;  was  taken  at  Mons  with  five  bullet 
wounds  in  him,  and,  after  a  series  of  unpublishable  hu- 
miliations, had  been  drafted  from  camp  to  camp  until 
he  had  arrived  at  this  little  village,  where,  in  view  of 
the  German  policy  of  letting  all  the  population  see  an 


TOMMY  IN  GERMANY  253 

Englishman,  he  was  the  representative  of  his  race  in 
that  community.  "The  local  M.P."  he  called  himself, 
in  his  humorous  way. 

Eobinson  Crusoe  on  his  island  was  not  more  ignorant 
of  the  truth  about  the  great  world  than  that  man,  for, 
while  he  had  learnt  a  few  daily  expressions  in  German, 
he  was  unable  to  read  it.  The  only  information  he 
could  gather  was  from  the  French,  Belgian,  and  Rus- 
sian prisoners  with  him,  and  some  he  got  by  bribing  one 
of  the  Landsturm  Guards  with  a  little  margarine  or 
sugar  out  of  his  parcel  from  England.  He  was  full  of 
the  battle  of  Mons  and  how  badly  he  and  his  comrades 
in  Germany  felt  at  the  way  they  had  been  left  unsup- 
ported there.  None  the  less,  though  alone,  with  no 
Englishman  for  miles,  living  almost  entirely  on  his  par- 
cels, absolutely  cut  off  from  the  real  facts  of  the  war, 
hearing  little  but  lies,  he  was  as  calmly  confident  of  the 
ultimate  victory  of  the  Allies  as  I  am. 

I  asked  him  if  he  heard  from  home. 

"Yes,"  he  said,  "now  and  then,  but  the  folks  tell  me 
nothing  and  I  can  tell  them  nothing.  If  you  get  back 
to  England  you  tell  the  people  there  not  to  believe  a 
word  that  comes  from  English  prisoners.  Those  who 
write  favourably  do  so  because  they  have  to.  Every 
truthful  letter  is  burned  by  the  military  censor.  Tell 
the  people  to  arrange  the  parcels  better  and  see  that 
every  man  gets  a  parcel  at  least  once  a  week — not  send 
five  parcels  to  one  man  and  no  parcels  to  some  poor 
bloke  like  me  who  is  alone.  How  is  the  war  going  on, 
guv'nor  ?"  he  asked.  I  gave  him  my  views.  "I  think 
it's  going  badly  for  the  Germans — not  by  what  they  tell 
me  here  or  what  I  gets  in  that  awful  Continental  Times 


254    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

paper,  but  from  what  I  notice  in  the  people  round 
about,  and  the  officers  who  visit  us.  The  people  are  not 
so  abusive  to  the  English  as  they  used  to  be.  The  su- 
perior officers  do  not  treat  us  like  dogs,  as  they  did,  and 
as  for  the  Landsturmers — well,  look  at  old  Heinrich 
here." 

At  that  moment  a  heavy,  shabby  old  Landsturm  sol- 
dier came  round  the  corner,  and  the  Cockney  prisoner 
treated  him  almost  as  though  he  were  a  performing 
bear. 

"You're  all  right,  ain't  you,  Heiny,  so  long  as  I  give 
you  a  bit  of  sugar  now  and  then  ?"  he  said  to  his  de- 
crepit old  guardian  in  his  German  gibberish. 

This  state  of  affairs  was  a  revelation  to  me,  but  I  was 
soon  to  find  that  if  the  British  prisoners  are  weary  of 
their  captivity  their  old  German  guardians  are  much 
more  weary  of  their  task.  These  high-spirited  British 
lads,  whom  two  years  of  cruelty  have  not  cowed,  are  an 
intense  puzzle  to  the  German  authorities. 

"You  see,"  remarked  a  very  decent  German  official 
connected  with  the  military  censorship  department, 
"everyone  of  these  Britishers  is  different.  Every  one 
of  them  sticks  up  for  what  he  calls  his  'rights' :  many 
of  them  decline  to  work  on  Sunday,  and  short  of  taking 
them  out  on  Sunday  morning  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet 
we  cannot  get  them  to  do  it.  We  have  to  be  careful,  too, 
with  these  Englishmen  now.  As  a  man  of  the  world, 
you  will  realise  that  though  our  general  public  here  do 
not  know  that  the  English  have  captured  many  Germans 
lately,  and  the  fact  is  never  mentioned  in  the  communi- 
ques, we  have  had  a  hint  from  Headquarters  that  the 
British  prisoners  may  one  day  balance  ours,  and  that 


TOMMY  IN  GERMANY  255 

hardship  for  these  verftuchte  Engldnder  may  result  in 
hardship  for  our  men  in  England." 

That  incident  was  long  ago.  It  is  important  to  relate 
that  since  the  beginning  of  the  battle  of  the  Somme 
there  is,  if  I  was  correctly  informed,  a  marked  improve- 
ment in  the  condition  of  English  prisoners  all  over  Ger- 
many— not  as  regards  food  supplied  by  the  authorities, 
because  the  food  squeeze  naturally  affects  the  prisoners 
as  it  does  their  guardians,  but  in  other  ways. 

In  addition  to  the  British  capturing  numbers  of  Ger- 
man hostages  on  the  Somme  to  hold  against  the  treat- 
ment of  their  men  in  Germany,  I  think  I  may  claim 
without  undue  pride  that  much  good  work  has  been 
done  by  the  American  Ambassador  and  his  staff  of 
attaches,  who  work  as  sedulously  on  behalf  of  the  pris- 
oners as  though  those  prisoners  had  been  American. 

The  German  authorities  hate  and  respect  publicity 
and  force  in  matters  not  to  their  liking,  and  Mr. 
Gerard's  fearlessness  in  reports  of  conditions  and  urgent 
pleas  for  improvement  have  been  of  great  service.  All 
the  threats  and  bluster  of  Germany  have  failed  to  cow 
him. 

To  continue  my  narrative  of  the  Cockney  soldier  in 
Russian  uniform.  So  many  Englishmen  are  in  Rus- 
sian uniform,  Belgian  uniform,  French  uniform,  or  a 
mix-up  uniform  that  there  is  no  possibility  of  my  Cock- 
ney Russian  being  recognised  by  the  authorities,  and 
the  photograph  which  my  neutral  friend  took  of  him 
and  me  was  taken  under  the  very  eyes  of  his  Land- 
sturmer. 

"Heiny,"  said  the  Russian  Cockney,  "is  fed  up  with 
the  war.  Aren't  you,  old  Heiny  ?  During  the  last  few 
weeks  a  fresh  call  for  more  men  has  cleared  the  district 


256     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

of  everything  on  two  legs.  We  have  had  to  work  four- 
teen hours  a  day,  and  I  wonder  what  my  mates  at  home 
would  think  of  3s.  pay  for  ten  days'  work  ?" 

I  was  able  to  comfort  him  by  giving  him  some  cigars, 
and  a  great  deal  of  really  true  and  good  news  about  the 
war,  all  of  which  he  repeated  to  Landsturmer  Heinrich. 
I  suggested  that  this  might  be  unwise.  "Not  a  bit  of 
it,"  he  said.  "Lots  of  these  old  Germans  are  only  too 
anxious  to  hear  bad  news,  because  they  think  that  bad 
news  will  bring  the  thing  to  a  stop." 

How  true  that  remark  was  I  knew  from  my  minute 
investigations.  The  incident  was  closed  by  the  distant 
appearence  of  a  Feldwebel  (sergeant-major).  My 
Cockney  vanished,  and  Heinrich  patrolled  onward. 

This  particular  incident  is  not  typical  of  the  life  of  a 
British  prisoner  in  Germany,  but  it  is  indicative  of  the 
position  many  of  the  30,000  prisoners  have  taken  up  by 
reason  of  their  strong  individuality  and  extraordinary 
cheerfulness  and  confidence.  My  impression  of  them 
is  of  alert,  resourceful  men  (their  escapes  have  been 
wonderful) — men  who  never  know  when  they  are 
beaten.  If  Britain  has  sufficient  of  these  people  she 

cannot  possibly  lose  the  war. 

***** 

The  world  does  not  need  reminders  such  as  that  of 
Wittenberg  or  of  such  singularly  accurate  narratives,  as 
several  in  Blackwood's  Magazine  to  know  what  has 
happened  to  British  prisoners  in  Germany. 

It  is  common  knowledge  throughout  the  German 
Empire  that  the  most  loathsome  tasks  of  the  war  in 
connection  with  every  camp  or  cage  are  given  to  the 
British.  They  have  had  to  clean  the  latrines  of  negro 


TOMMY  IN  GERMANY  257 

prisoners,  and  were  in  some  cases  forced  to  work  witK 
implements  which  would  make  their  task  the  more 
disgusting.  One  man  told  me  that  his  lunch  was 
served  to  him  where  he  was  working,  and  when  he 
protested  he  was  told  to  eat  it  there,  or  go  without. 

Conversations  that  I  have  had  here  in  London 
about  prisoners  give  me  the  impression  that  the  British 
public  does  not  exactly  apprehend  what  a  prisoner 
stands  for  in  German  eyes. 

First,  he  is  a  hostage.  If  he  be  an  officer  his  exact 
social  value  is  estimated  by  the  authorities  in  Berlin, 
who  have  a  complete  card  index  of  all  their  officer 
prisoners,  showing  to  what  British  families  they  belong 
and  whether  they  have  social  or  political  connections 
in  Britain.  Thus  when  someone  in  England  mistakenly, 
and  before  sufficient  German  prisoners  were  in  their 
hands,  treated  certain  submarine  marauders  differently 
from  other  prisoners,  the  German  Government  speedily 
referred  to  this  card-index,  picked  out  a  number  of 
officers  with  connections  in  the  Souse  of  Lords  and 
House  of  Commons,  and  treated  them  as  convicts. 

The  other  German  view  of  the  prisoner  is  his  cash 
value  as  a  labourer.  I  invite  my  readers  to  realise  the 
enormous  pecuniary  worth  of  the  two  million  prisoner 
slaves  now  reclaiming  swamps,  tilling  the  soil,  building 
roads  and  railways,  and  working  in  factories  for  their 
German  taskmasters, 

The  most  numerous  body  of  prisoners  in  Germany 
are  the  Russians.  They  are  to  be  seen  everywhere.  In 
some  cases  they  have  greater  freedom  than  any  other 
prisoners,  and  often,  in  isolated  cases,  travel  unguarded 
by  rail  or  tramway  to  and  from  their  work.  If  they  are 


258     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

not  provided  with  good  Kussian  uniforms,  in  which, 
of  course,  they  would  not  be  able  to  escape,  they  are 
made  conspicuous  by  a  wide  stripe  down  the  trouser 
or  on  the  back.  They  are  easy,  docile,  physically  strong, 
and  accustomed  to  a  lower  grade  of  food  than  any  other 
prisoners,  except  the  Serbs. 

The  British,  of  course,  are  much  the  smallest  num- 
ber in  Germany,  but  much  the  most  highly  prized  for 
hate  propaganda  purposes. 

"More  difficult  to  manage,"  said  one  Unteroffizier  to 
me,  "than  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  our  two  million."  It 
is,  indeed,  a  fact  that  the  30,000  British  prisoners, 
though  the  worst  treated,  are  the  gayest,  most  outspoken, 
and  rebellious  against  tyranny  of  the  whole  collection. 

There  is,  however,  a  brighter  side  to  prison  life  in 
Germany,  I  am  happy  to  record.  A  number  of  really 
excellent  camps  have  been  arranged  to  which  neutral 
visitors  are  taken.  When  I  told  the  German  Foreign 
Office  that  I  would  like  to  see  the  good  side  of  prison 
life,  I  was  given  permission  by  the  Kriegsministerium 
(War  Office)  to  visit  the  great  camp  at  Soltau  with  its 
31,000  inmates  with  Halil  Halid  Bey  (formerly  Turk- 
ish Consul  in  Berlin)  and  Herr  Miiller  (interested  in 
Germany's  Far  Eastern  developments). 

Five  hours  away  from  Berlin,  on  the  monotonous 
Liineberger  Heide  (Liineberg  Heath),  has  sprung  up 
this  great  town  with  the  speed  of  a  boom  mining  town 
in  Colorado. 

On  arrival  at  the  little  old  town  of  Soltau  we  were 
met  by  a  military  automobile  and  driven  out  on  a  road 
made  by  the  prisoners  to  the  largest  collection  of  huts 
I  have  ever  seen. 


TOMMY  IN  GERMANY  259 

There  is  nothing  wrong  that  I  could  detect  in  the 
camp,  and  I  should  say  that  the  200  British  prisoners 
there  are  as  well  treated  as  any  in  Germany.  The  Com- 
mandant seems  to  be  a  good  fellow.  His  task  of  ruling 
so  great  an  assemblage  of  men  is  a  large  and  difficult 
one,  rendered  the  easier  by  the  good  spirit  engendered 
by  his  tact  and  kindness. 

I  had  confirmation  of  my  own  views  of  him  later, 
when  I  came  across  a  Belgian  who  had  escaped  from 
Germany,  and  who  had  been  in  this  camp.  He  said : — 
"The  little  captain  at  Soltau  was  a  good  fellow,  and  if 
I  am  with  the  force  that  releases  the  prisoners  there 
after  we  get  into  Germany,  I  will  do  my  best  to  see  that 
he  gets  extra  good  treatment." 

Our  inspection  occupied  six  hours.  Halil  Halid 
Bey,  who  talks  English  perfectly,  and  looks  like  an 
Irishman,  was  taken  for  an  American  by  the  prisoners. 
In  fact,  one  Belgian,  believing  him  to  be  an  American 
official,  rushed  up  to  him  and  with  arms  outstretched 
pleaded:  "Do  you  save  poor  Belgians,  too,  as  well  as 
British?" 

The  physical  comfort  of  the  prisoners  is  well  looked 
after  in  the  neat  and  perfectly  clean  dormitories.  The 
men  were  packed  rather  closely,  I  thought,  but  not  more 
than  on  board  ship. 

One  became  almost  dazed  in  passing  through  these 
miles  of  huts,  arranged  in  blocks  like  the  streets  of  an 
American  town. 

We  visited  the  hospital,  which  was  as  good  as  many 
civilian  hospitals  in  other  countries.  There  I  heard 
the  first  complaint,  from  a  little  red-headed  Irishman, 
his  voice  wheezing  with  asthma,  whose  grievance  was 


260     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

not  against  the  camp  itself,  but  against  a  medical  or- 
der which  had  reversed  what  he  called  his  promise  to 
be  sent  to  Switzerland.  He  raised  his  voice  without 
any  fear,  as  our  little  group,  accompanied  by  the  Com- 
mandant and  the  interpreter,  went  round,  and  I  was 
allowed  to  speak  to  him  freely.  I  am  not  a  medical 
man,  but  I  should  think  his  was  a  case  for  release.  His 
lungs  were  obviously  in  a  bad  state. 

We  were  also  accompanied  by  an  English  sergeant, 
one  Saxton — a  magnificent  type  of  the  old  Army,  so 
many  of  whom  are  eating  out  their  days  in  Germany. 
He  spoke  freely  and  frankly  about  the  arrangements, 
and  had  no  complaint  to  make  except  the  food  shortage 
and  the  quality  of  the  food. 

The  British  section  reminded  one  now  and  then  of 
England.  Portraits  of  wives,  children,  and  sweethearts 
were  over  the  beds ;  there  was  no  lack  of  footballs,  and 
the  British  and  Belgians  play  football  practically  every 
day  after  the  daily  work  of  reclaiming  the  land,  erect- 
ing new  huts,  making  new  roads,  and  looking  after  the 
farms  and  market  gardens  has  been  accomplished. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  raise  certain  kinds  of 
live  stock,  such  as  pigs,  poultry,  and  Belgian  hares — at 
large  kind  of  rabbit.  There  were  a  few  pet  dogs  about 
— one  had  been  trained  by  a  Belgian  to  perform  tricks 
equal  to  any  of  those  displayed  at  variety  theatres. 

Apparently  there  is  no  lack  of  amusement.  I  visited 
the  cinematograph  theatre,  and  the  operator  asked, 
"What  would  you  like  to  see — something  funny  ?"  He 
showed  us  a  rather  familiar  old  film.  The  reels  are 
those  that  have  been  passed  out  of  service  of  the  Ger- 
man moving  picture  shows.  In  the  large  theatre,  which 


TOMMY  IN  GERMANY  261 

would  hold,  I  should  think,  seven  hundred  to  a  thou- 
sand people,  there  was  a  good  acrobatic  act  and  the 
performing  dog,  to  which  I  have  referred,  with  an  or- 
chestra of  twenty-five  instruments,  almost  all  prisoners, 
but  a  couple  of  German  Landsturmers  helped  out.  The 
guarding  of  the  prisoners  is  effected  by  plenty  of 
barbed  wire  and  a  comparatively  small  number  of  old- 
ish Landsturmers. 

A  special  cruelty  of  the  Germans  towards  prisoners 
is  the  provision  of  a  lying  newspaper  in  French  for 
the  Frenchmen,  called  the  Gazette  des  Ardennes.  The 
Gazette  des- Ardennes  publishes  every  imaginable  kind 
of  lie  about  the  French  and  French  Army,  with  garbled 
quotations  from  English  newspapers,  and  particularly 
The  Times,,  calculated  to  disturb  the  relations  o^  the 
French  and  English  prisoners  in  Germany.  For  the 
British  there  is  a  paper  in  English  which  is  quite  as 
bad,  to  which  I  have  already  referred,  called  the  Con- 
tinental Times,  doled  out  three  times  a  week.  The 
Continental  Times  is,  I  regret  to  say,  largely  written  by 
renegade  Englishmen  in  Berlin  employed  by  the  Ger- 
man Government,  notably  Aubrey  Stanhope,  who  for 
well-known  reasons  was  unable  to  enter  England  at  the 
outbreak  of  war,  and  so  remains  and  must  remain  in 
Germany,  where,  for  a  very  humble  pittance,  he  con- 
ducts this  campaign  against  his  own  country. 

For  the  Russians  a  special  prevaricating  sheet,  called 
the  Russki  Visnik,  is  issued.  All  these  newspapers  pre- 
tend to  print  the  official  French,  British,  and  Russian 
communiques. 

For  a  long  time  the  effect  on  the  British  prisoners 
was  bad,  but  little  by  little  events  revealed  to  them  that 


262     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPEN  ING  SHADOW 

the  Cmiimtmttl  Times,  which  makes  a  specialty  of  at- 
tacks on  the  Ifr^Ksii  Press,  was  anti-British. 

The  aiiiwal  of  letters  and  parcels  is,  of  comae,  the 
great  event  for  die  priaoneis  and,  so  far  as  the  large 
camps  are  concerned,  I  do  not  think  that  there  are  now 
aaty  lfrt'H*Mi  prisoners  unprovided  with  parcels.  It  is 
the  isolated  and  scattered  men,  awed  often  from  place 
to  place  for  exhibition  purposes,  who  miss  panda. 

SoitaoL  alAn^gh  a  model  f*nft  is  U*^V  and  dreair 
and  isolated.  At  the  onlaet  cases  of  typhus  ocmrred 
there,  and  to  a  TJ**^T»  secluded  comer  ox  t**e  camp  MMur 
of  *<nn*V"t  WMPM*  fgil  the  tale  of  sadness.  The 
f^mm.  marked  a  FMBHP***  IHJIII  lar-awa v  Vilna.  PMJ 
next  a  Tommy  from.  Lnndoi.  East  had  met  West  in 
the  Ueak  and  sflentgrarcjaid  on  the  heather.  Close  to 
diem  slept  a  soldier  from  some  obscure  Tillage  in  Xor- 
mandy,  and  beside  1dm  lay  a  Belgian,  whose  life  had 
been.  An  penalty  of  his  country's  driiri  minat  mn  to  de- 
fend her  neorrality.  Here  in  the  heart  of  Germany  the 
AlKps  were  nnited  even  in  <|p*ili. 

As  I  made  the  long  journey  back  to  Berlin  I  re- 

m      M     t        -.1     ^^—.^  i  .     •    _  .    »1  „         __J  *!.:_-_  T  1»^  a. 

necfcu  »***  some  ff^***^**  on  •*•*  SDOQ.  mmiES  A  uao.  ^"^^i 
at  Sohan.  and  I  felt  conrineed  that  the  men  in  charge 
of  the  camp  do  everything  within  their  power  to  make 
the  fife  of  the  prisoners  happy.  But  as  the  train 
along  in  the  A*v*r*v**  Iv  seemed  to  see  a  face 


before  me  which  I  could  not  banish.  It  was  the  face 
of  a  Belgian,  ¥»«Jing  at  the  altar  in  die  Catholic 
chapel,  his  eyes  riveted  on  his  Sariour  on  the  Gross,  his 
whole  being  tense  in  fervent  supplication,  his  lips  quiv- 
ering in  |Bayet.  My  companions  had  gone,  but  I 
hdd  spellbound,  feeling  "How  long!  How  long!" 


TOMMY  IN  GERMANY  263 

the  anguish  of  his  mind.  He  must  have  been  a  man 
who  had  a  home  and  loved  it,  and  his  whole  expression 
told  unmistakably  that  he  was  imploring  for  strength 
to  hold  out  till  the  end  in  that  dreary,  cheerless  region 
of  brown  and  grey. 

His  captors  had  given  him  a  chapel,  to  be  sure,  but 
why  was  he  in  Germany  at  all  ? 

***** 

Soltau  and  other  camps  are  satisfactory — but  there 
are  others,  many  others,  such  as  unvisited  punishment 
camps.  The  average  Britisher  in  confinement  in  Ger- 
many is  under  the  care  of  an  oldish  guard,  such  as 
Heiny  of  the  Landsturm,  but  the  immediate  authority 
is  often  a  man  of  the  notorious  Unteroffizier  type,  whoso 
cruelty  to  the  German  private  is  well  known,  and  whose 
treatment  of  the  most  hated  enemy  can  be  imagined. 

The  petty  forms  of  tyranny  meted  out  to  German 
soldiers  such  as  making  a  man  walk  for  hours  up  and 
down  stairs  in  order  to  fill  a  bath  with  a  wineglass; 
making  him  shine  and  soil  then  again  shine  and  soil 
hour  after  hour  a  pair  of  boots ;  making  him  chew  and 
swallow  his  own  socks  have  been  described  in  suppressed 
German  books. 

I  believe  that  publicity,  rigorous  blockade  and  big 
shells  are  the  only  arguments  that  have  any  effect  on  the 
Prussians  at  present.  It  is  publicity  and  the  fear  of 
opinion  of  certain  neutrals  that  has  produced  such 
camps  as  Soltau.  It  is  difficult  for  the  comfortable 
sit-at-homes  to  visualise  the  condition  of  men  who  have 
been  in  the  enemy  atmosphere  of  hate  for  a  long  period. 
All  the  British  soldiers  whom  I  met  in  Germany  were 
captured  in  the  early  part  of  the  war  when  their  shell- 


264    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

less  Army  had  to  face  machine-guns  and  high  explosives 
often  with  the  shield  of  their  own  breasts  and  a  rifle. 

Herded  like  cattle  many  of  the  wounded  dying,  they 
travelled  eastwards  to  be  subject  to  the  insults  and  vili- 
fications of  the  German  population.  That  they  should 
retain  their  cheery  confidence  in  surroundings  and 
among  a  people  so  ferociously  hostile  so  entirely  un- 
British,  so  devoid  of  chivalry  or  sporting  instinct,  is  a 
monument  to  the  character  of  their  race. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

HOW    THE    PRUSSIAN    GUARD    CAME    HOME    FROM 
THE    SOMME 

EARLY  in  August,  1916,  I  was  in  Berlin.  The  Brit- 
ish and  French  offensive  had  commenced  on  July 
1st.  Outwardly  it  appeared  to  attract  very  little  no- 
tice on  the  part  of  Germany  and  I  do  not  believe  that 
it  attracted  sufficient  attention  even  in  the  highest  mili- 
tary quarters.  It  was  considered  to  be  Great  Britain's 
final  "bluff."  The  great  maps  in  the  shop  windows  in 
every  street  and  on  the  walls  in  every  German  house 
showed  no  change,  and  still  show  no  change  worth  no- 
ticing. "Maps  speak,"  say  the  Germans. 

One  hot  evening  in  Berlin  I  met  a  young  officer  whom 
I  had  known  on  a  previous  visit  to  Germany,  and  who 
was  home  on  ten  days'  furlough.  I  noticed  that  he  was 
ill  or  out  of  sorts,  and  he  told  me  that  he  had  been  un- 
expectedly called  back  to  his  regiment  on  the  Western 
front.  "How  is  that  ?"  I  said.  He  made  that  curious 
and  indescribable  German  gesture  which  shows  discon- 
tent and  dissatisfaction.  "These English  are  put- 
ting every  man  they  have  got  into  a  final  and  ridiculous 
attempt  to  make  us  listen  to  peace  terms.  My  leave 
is  cut  short,  and  I  am  off  this  evening."  We  had  a  glass 
of  beer  at  the  Bavaria  Restaurant  in  the  Friedrich- 
strasse. 

"You  have  been  in  England,  haven't  you?"  he  in- 

265 


266     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

quired.  I  told  him  that  I  had  been  there  last  year. 
"They  seem  to  have  more  soldiers  than  we  thought,"  he 
said.  "They  seem  to  be  learning  the  business ;  my  bat- 
talion has  suffered  terribly." 

Within  the  next  day  or  two  there  were  other  rumours 
in  Berlin — rumours  quite  unknown  to  the  mass.  How 
and  where  I  heard  these  rumours  it  would  be  unfair 
to  certain  Germans,  who  were  extremely  kind  to  me, 
to  say,  but  it  was  suggested  to  me  by  a  friend — a  mem- 
ber of  the  Extreme  Left  of  the  Social  Democratic  Party 
— that  if  I  wanted  to  learn  the  truth  I  should  go  out  to 
Potsdam  and  see  the  arrival  of  the  wounded  men  of  the 
famous  Prussian  Guard,  who  had,  he  said,  had  a  ter- 
rible experience  at  the  hands  of  the  English  at  Contal- 
maison  on  July  10th. 

He  drew  me  aside  in  the  Tiergarten  and  told  me,  for 
he  is,  I  am  sure,  a  real  German  patriot,  that  the  state 
of  things  in  the  Somme,  if  known  throughout  Germany, 
would  effectively  destroy  the  pretensions  of  the  annexa- 
tionist  party,  who  believed  that  Germany  has  won  the 
war  and  will  hold  Belgium  and  the  conquered  portion 
of  France  and  Poland. 

He  told  me  to  go  out  to  Potsdam  with  caution,  and 
he  warned  me  that  I  should  have  the  utmost  difficulty 
in  getting  anywhere  near  the  military  sidings  of  the 
railway  station  there. 

I  asked  another  usually  extremely  well-informed 
friend  if  there  was  anything  particular  happening  in 
the  war,  and  told  him  that  I  thought  of  going  to  Pots- 
dam, and  he  said,  "What  for?  There  is  nothing  to  be 
seen  there — the  same  old  drilling  drilling,  drilling." 
So  well  are  secrets  kept  in  Germany. 


HOW  PRUSSIAN  GUARD  CAME  HOME  267 

The  4th  of  August  is  the  anniversary  of  what  is 
known  in  Germany  as  "England's  treachery" — the  day 
that  Britain  entered  the  war  in  what  the  German  Gov- 
ernment tells  the  people  is  "a  base  and  cowardly  at- 
tempt to  try  and  beat  her  by  starving  innocent  women 
and  children." 

On  that  sunny  and  fresh  morning  I  looked  out  of  the 
railway  carriage  window  some  quarter  of  a  mile  before 
we  arrived  at  Potsdam  and  saw  numerous  brown  trains 
marked  with  the  Red  Cross,  trains  that  usually  travel 
by  night  in  Germany. 

There  were  a  couple  of  officers  of  the  Guard  Cavalry 
in  the  same  carriage  with  me.  They  also  looked  out. 
"Ach,  nodi  'mat"  ("What,  again?")  discontentedly  re- 
marked the  elder.  They  were  a  gloomy  pair  and  they 
had  reason  to  be.  The  German  public  has  begun  to 
know  a  great  deal  about  the  wounded.  They  do  not  yet 
know  all  the  facts,  because  wounded  men  are,  as  far  as 
possible,  hidden  in  Germany  and  never  sent  to  Socialist 
centres  unless  it  is  absolutely  unavoidable.  The  official 
figures  which  are  increasing  in  an  enormous  ratio  since 
the  development  of  Britain's  war  machine,  are  falsified 
by  manipulation. 

And  if  easy  proof  be  needed  of  the  truth  of  my  as- 
sertion I  point  to  the  monstrous  official  misstatement 
involved  in  the  announcement  that  over  ninety  per  cent, 
of  German  wounded  return  to  the  firing  line !  Of  the 
great  crush  of  wounded  at  Potsdam  I  doubt  whether 
any  appreciable  portion  of  the  serious  cases  will  return 
to  anything  except  permanent  invalidism.  They  are 
suffering  from  shell  wounds,  not  shrapnel,  for  the  most 
part,  I  gathered. 


268     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

As  our  train  emptied  it  was  obvious  that  some  great 
spectacle  was  in  progress.  The  exit  to  the  station  be- 
came blocked  with  staring  peasant  women  returning 
from  the  early  market  in  Berlin,  their  high  fruit  and 
vegetable  baskets  empty  on  their  backs.  When  I 
eventually  got  through  the  crowd  into  the  outer  air  and 
paused  at  the  top  of  the  short  flight  of  steps  I  beheld  a 
scene  that  will  never  pass  from  my  memory.  Filmed 
and  circulated  in  Germany  it  would  evoke  inconceivable 
astonishment  to  this  deluded  nation  and  would  swell  the 
malcontents,  already  a  formidable  mass,  into  a  united 
and  dangerous  army  of  angry,  eye-opened  dupes.  This 
is  not  the  mere  expression  of  a  neutral  view,  but  is  also 
the  opinion  of  a  sober  and  patriotic  German  states- 
man. 

I  saw  the  British  wounded  arrive  from  Neuve  Cha- 
pelle  at  Boulogne;  I  saw  the  Russian  wounded  in  the 
retreat  from  the  Bukovina ;  I  saw  the  Belgian  wounded 
in  the  Antwerp  retreat,  and  the  German  wounded  in 
East  Prussia,  but  the  wounded  of  the  Prussian  Guard 
at  Potsdam  surpassed  in  sadness  anything  I  have  wit- 
nessed in  the  last  two  bloody  years. 

The  British  Neuve  Chapelle  wounded  were,  if  not 
gay,  many  of  them  blithe  and  smiling — their  bodies 
were  hurt  but  their  minds  were  cheerful;  but  the 
wounded  of  the  Prussian  Guard — the  proudest  military 
force  in  the  world — who  had  come  back  to  their  home 
town  decimated  and  humbled — these  Guards  formed 
the  most  amazing  agglomeration  of  broken  men  I  have 
ever  encountered.  As  to  the  numbers  of  them,  of  these 
five  Reserve  regiments  but  few  are  believed  to  be  un- 
hurt. Vast  numbers  were  killed,  and  most  of  the  rest 


HOW  PRUSSIAN  GUARD  CAME  HOME  269 

are  back  at  Potsdam  in  the  ever  growing  streets  of  hos- 
pitals that  are  being  built  on  the  Bornstadterfeld. 

One  of  the  trains  had  just  stopped.  The  square  was 
blocked  with  vehicles  of  every  description.  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  the  great  German  furniture  vans,  which 
by  comparison  with  those  used  in  England  and  the 
"United  States  look  almost  like  houses  on  wheels,  were 
drawn  up  in  rows  with  military  precision.  As  if  these 
were  not  enough,  the  whole  of  the  wheeled  traffic  of 
Potsdam  seemed  to  be  commandeered  by  the  military 
for  the  lightly  wounded — cabs,  tradesmen's  wagons,  pri- 
vate carriages — everything  on  wheels  except,  of  course, 
motor-cars,  which  are  non-existent  owing  to  the 
rubber  shortage.  Endless  tiers  of  stretchers  lay 
along  the  low  embankment  sloping  up  to  the  line. 
Doctors,  nurses,  and  bearers  were  waiting  in  quiet 
readiness. 

The  passengers  coming  out  of  the  station,  inchiding 
the  women  with  the  tall  baskets,  stopped,  but  only  for 
a  moment.  They  did  not  tarry,  for  the  police,  of  which 
there  will  never  be  any  dearth  if  the  war  lasts  thirty 
years,  motioned  them  on,  a  slight  movement  of  the  hand 
being  sufficient. 

I  was  so  absorbed  that  I  failed  to  notice  the  big  con- 
stable near  me  until  he  laid  his  heavy  paw  upon  my 
shoulder  and  told  me  to  move  on.  A  schoolmaster  and 
his  wife,  his  Rucksack  full  of  lunch,  who  had  taken  ad- 
vantage of  the  glorious  sunshine  to  get  away  from  Ber- 
lin to  spend  a  day  amidst  the  woods  along  the  Havel, 
asked  the  policeman  what  the  matter  was. 

The  reply  was  "Nichis  hier  zu  sehen"  ("Nothing  to 


270    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

be  seen  here.  Get  along!").  The  great  "Hush!  Hush! 
Hush!"  machinery  of  Germany  was  at  work. 

Determined  not  to  be  baffled,  I  moved  out  of  the 
square  into  the  shelter  of  a  roadside  tree,  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  a  distant  view  would  be  better  than  none  at 
all,  but  the  police  were  on  the  alert,  and  a  police  lieu- 
tenant tackled  me  at  once.  I  decided  to  act  on  the 
German  military  theory  that  attack  is  the  best  defence, 
and,  stepping  up  to  him,  I  stated  that  I  was  a  news- 
paper correspondent.  "Might  I  not  see  the  wounded 
taken  from  the  train  ?"  I  requested.  He  very  cour- 
teously replied  that  I  might  not,  unless  I  had  a  special 
pass  for  that  purpose  from  the  Kriegsministerium  in 
Berlin. 

I  hit  upon  a  plan. 

I  regretfully  sighed  that  I  would  go  back  to  Berlin 
and  get  a  pass,  and  retracing  my  steps  to  the  station  I 
bought  a  ticket. 

A  soldier  and  an  TJnteroffizier  were  stationed  near  the 
box  in  which  stood  the  uniformed  woman  who  punches 
tickets. 

The  Unteroffizier  looked  at  me  sharply.  "No  train 
for  an  hour  and  a  half,"  he  said. 

"That  doesn't  disturb  me  in  the  least  when  I  have 
plenty  to  read,"  I  answered  pleasantly,  at  the  same  time 
pointing  to  the  bundle  of  morning  papers  which  I  car- 
ried, the  Norddeutsche  Allgemeine  Zeitung  of  the  For- 
eign Office,  on  the  outside. 

I  knew  Potsdam  thoroughly,  and  was  perfectly  fa- 
miliar with  every  foot  of  the  station.  I  knew  that  there 
was  a  large  window  in  the  first  and  second-class  dining- 


HOW  PRUSSIAN  GUARD  CAME  HOME  271 

room  which  was  even  closer  to  the  ambulances  in  the 
square  than  were  the  exit  steps. 

I  did  not  go  directly  to  the  dining-room,  but  sat  on 
one  of  the  high-backed  benches  on  the  platform  and  be- 
gan to  read  the  papers.  The  Unteromzier  looked  out 
and  found  me  fairly  buried  in  them.  He  returned  a 
little  later  and  saw  me  asleep — or  thought  he  did. 

When  he  had  gone  I  sauntered  along  the  platform 
into  the  dining-room,  to  find  it  vacant  save  for  a  youth- 
ful waiter  and  a  barmaid.  I  walked  straight  to  the 
window — where  the  light  would  be  better  for  reading — 
and  ordered  bread  and  Edam  cheese,  tearing  off  a  fifty 
gram  amount  from  my  Berlin  bread  ticket,  which  waa 
fortunately  good  in  Potsdam. 

My  position  enabled  me  to  look  right  out  upon  the 
square  below,  but  rendered  me  inconspicuous  from  the 
street. 

By  this  time  the  wounded  were  being  moved  from 
the  train.  The  slightly  wounded  were  drawn  up  in 
double  ranks,  their  clean  white  arm-  and  head-bandages 
gleaming  in  the  noonday  light.  They  stood  dazed  and 
dejected,  looking  on  at  the  real  work  which  was  just 
beginning — the  removal  of  the  severely  wounded. 

Then  it  was  that  I  learned  the  use  of  those  mam- 
moth furniture  vans.  Then  it  was,  I  realised  that  these 
vans  are  part  of  Germany's  plans  by  which  her  wounded 
are  carried — I  will  not  say  secretly,  but  as  unob- 
trusively as  possible.  In  some  of  the  mammoths  were 
put  twelve,  into  others  fourteen;  others  held  as  many 
as  twenty. 

The  Prussian  Guard  had  come  home.  The  steel 
corps  of  the  army  of  Germany  had  met  near  Contal- 


272     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

maison  the  light-hearted  boys  I  had  seen  drilling  in 
Hyde  Park  last  year,  and  in  a  furious  counter-attack, 
in  which  they  had  attempted  to  regain  the  village,  had 
been  wiped  out. 

These  were  not  merely  wounded,  but  dejected 
wounded.  The  whole  atmosphere  of  the  scene  was  that 
of  intense  surprise  and  depression.  Tradition  going 
back  to  Frederick  the  Great,  nearly  two  hundred  years 
ago,  had  been  smashed — by  amateur  soldiers.  The  cal- 
low youth  of  sixteen  who  served  my  lunch  was  mutter- 
ing something  to  the  barmaid,  who  replied  that  he  was 
lucky  to  be  in  a  class  that  was  not  likely  to  be  called  up 
yet. 

The  extreme  cases  were  carried  at  a  snail's  pace  by 
bearers,  who  put  their  feet  down  as  carefully  as  if  they 
were  testing  very  thin  ice,  and  who  placed  the  com- 
fortable spring  stretchers  in  the  very  few  vehicles  which 
had  rubber  or  imitation  rubber  tyres.  The  work  was 
done  with  military  precision  and  great  celerity.  The 
evacuation  of  this  train  was  no  sooner  finished  than  an- 
other took  its  place,  and  the  same  scene  was  repeated. 
Presently  the  great  furniture  vans  returned  from  hav- 
ing deposited  their  terrible  loads,  and  were  again  filled. 
One  van  was  reserved  for  those  who  had  expired  on  the 
journey,  and  it  was  full. 

This,  then,  was  the  battered  remnant  of  the  five  Re- 
serve regiments  of  the  Prussian  Guard  which  had 
charged  the  British  lines  at  Cental  maison  three  weeks 
before  in  a  desperate  German  counter-attack  to  wrest 
the  village  from  the  enemy,  who  had  just  occupied  it. 
Each  train  discharged  between  six  and  seven  hundred 


HOW  PRUSSIAN  GUARD  CAME  HOME  273 

maimed  passengers.  Nor  was  this  the  last  day  of  the 
influx. 

The  Guard  had  its  garrisons  chiefly  in  Potsdam,  but 
also  partly  in  Berlin,  and  represents  the  physical  flower 
of  German  manhood.  On  parade  it  was  inspiring  to 
look  at,  and  no  military  officer  in  the  world  ever 
doubted  its  prowess.  Nor  has  it  failed  in  the  war  to 
show  splendid  courage  and  fighting  qualities.  English 
people  simply  do  not  understand  its  prestige  at  home 
and  among  neutrals. 

The  Guard  is  sent  only  where  there  is  supreme  work 
to  be  done.  If  you  hear  that  it  has  been  hurled  into  a 
charge  you  may  rest  assured  that  it  is  striving  to  gain 
something  on  which  Germany  sets  the  highest  price — 
for  the  life-blood  of  the  Guard  is  the  dearest  that  she 
can  pay. 

In  the  battle  of  the  Marne  the  active  regiments  of 
the  Guard  forming  a  link  between  the  armies  of  von 
Billow  and  von  Hausen  were  dashed  like  spray  on 
jagged  cliffs  when  they  surged  in  wave  after  wave 
against  the  army  of  Foch  at  Sezanne  and  Fere  Cham- 
penoise. 

Germany  was  willing  to  sacrifice  those  superb  troops 
during  the  early  part  of  the  battle  because  she  knew 
that  von  Kluck  had  only  to  hold  his  army  together,  even 
though  he  did  not  advance,  and  the  overthrow  of  Foch 
would  mean  a  Teuton  wedge  driven  between  Verdun 
and  Paris. 

One  year  and  ten  months  later  she  hurled  the  Guard 
Reserve  at  Contalmaison  because  she  was  determined 
that  this  important  link  in  the  chain  of  concrete  and 
steel  that  coiled  back  and  forth  before  Bapaume-Pe- 


2  74    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

ronne  must  remain  unbroken.  The  newly-formed  lines 
of  Britain's  sons  bent  but  did  not  break  under  the 
shock.  They  were  outnumbered,  but,  like  all  the  rest 
of  the  British  that  the  back-from-the-front  German  sol- 
diers have  told  me  about,  these  fought  on  and  on,  never 
thinking  of  surrender. 

I  know  from  one  of  these  that  in  a  first  onslaught 
the  Guard  lost  heavily,  but  was  reinforced  and  again 
advanced.  Another  desperate  encounter  and  the  men 
from  Potsdam  withered  in  the  hand-to-hand  carnage. 
The  Germans  could  not  hold  what  they  had  won  back, 
and  the  khaki  succeeded  the  field  grey  at  Contalmaison. 

The  evacuation  of  the  wounded  occupied  hours.  I 
purposely  missed  my  train,  for  I  knew  that  I  was  prob- 
ably the  only  foreign  civilian  to  see  the  historic  picture 
of  the  proudest  soldiery  of  Prussia  return  to  its  gar- 
rison town  from  the  greatest  battle  in  history. 

Empty  trains  were  pulled  out  of  the  way,  to  be 
succeeded  by  more  trains  full  of  wounded,  and  again 
more.  Doctors  and  nurses  were  attentive  and  always 
busy,  and  the  stretcher-bearers  moved  back  and  forth 
until  their  faces  grew  red  with  exertion. 

But  it  was  the  visages  of  the  men  on  the  stretchers 
that  riveted  my  attention.  I  never  saw  so  many  men 
so  completely  exhausted.  Not  one  pair  of  lips  relaxed 
into  a  smile,  and  not  an  eye  lit  up  with  the  glad  recog- 
nition of  former  surroundings. 

It  was  not,  however,  the  lines  of  suffering  in  those 
faces  that  impressed  me,  but  that  uncanny  sameness 
of  expression,  an  expression  of  hopeless  gloom  so  deep 
that  it  made  me  forget  that  the  sun  was  shining  from 
an  unclouded  sky.  The  dejection  of  the  police,  of  the 


HOW  PRUSSIAN  GUARD  CAME  HOME  275 

soldier  onlookers,  of  the  walking  wounded,  and  those 
upturned  faces  on  the  white  pillows  told  as  plainly  as 
words  could  ever  tell  that  the  Guard  had  at  last  met  a 
force  superior  to  themselves  and  their  war  machine. 
They  knew  well  that  they  were  the  idol  of  their  Father- 
land, and  that  they  had  fought  with  every  ounce  of  their 
great  physical  strength,  backed  by  their  long  traditions. 
They  had  been  vanquished  by  an  army  of  mere  sports- 
men. 

My  thoughts  went  back  to  Berlin  and  the  uninformed 
scoffings  at  the  British  Army  and  its  futile  efforts  to 
push  back  the  troops  of  Rupprecht  on  the  Somme.  Yet 
here  on  the  actual  outskirts  of  the  German  capital  was 
a  grim  tribute  to  the  machine  that  Great  Britain  had 
built  up  under  the  protection  of  her  Navy. 

In  Berlin  at  that  moment  the  afternoon  editions  were 
fluttering  their  daily  headlines  of  victory  to  the  crowds 
on  the  Linden  and  the  Friedrichstrasse,  but  here  the 
mammoth  vans  were  moving  slowly  through  the  streets 
of  Potsdam. 

To  the  women  who  stood  in  the  long  lines  waiting 
with  the  potato  and  butter  tickets  for  food  on  the  other 
side  of  the  old  stone  bridge  that  spans  the  Havel  they 
were  merely  ordinary  cumbersome  furniture  wagons. 

How  were  they  to  know  that  these  tumbrils  contained 
the  bloody  story  of  Contalmaison  ? 


CHAPTEK  XXIII 

HOW    GERMANY    DENIES 

GEBMANY,    according    to    Keichstag    statements,    is 
spending  millions  of  pounds  upon  German  propa- 
ganda throughout  the  universe.     The  trend  of  that  pro- 
paganda is: — 

1.  To  attempt  to  convince  the  neutral  world  that 
Germany  cannot  be  beaten;  and 

2.  Above  all,  to  convince  Great  Britain  (the  chief 
enemy)  that  Germany  cannot  be  beaten. 

The  only  factors  really  feared  by  the  Germans  of 
the  governing  class  are  the  Western  front  and  the 
blockade. 

I  went  into  Germany  determined  to  try  to  find  out 
the  truth,  and  to  tell  the  truth.  I  had  an  added  incen- 
tive to  be  thorough  and  work  on  original  lines,  since  I 
was  fortunate  enough  to  secure  possession  of  an  official 
letter  which  advised  those  whom  it  concerned  to  give  no 
information  of  value  to  Americans  in  general.  I  also 
•got  accurate  information  that  the  Wilhelmstrasse  had 
singled  me  out  as  one  American  in  particular  to  whom 
nothing  of  value  was  to  be  imparted. 
•  The  German,  with  his  cast-in-a-mould  mind,  does 
not  understand  the  trait  developed  among  other  peoples 
of  seeing  things  for  themselves.  He  is  unacquainted 
with  originality  in  Imman  beings.  He  thinks  a  corre- 

276 


HOW  GERMANY  DENIES  277 

spondent  does  not  observe  anything  unless  it  is  pointed 
out  to  him. 

Last  summer,  for  example,  one  could  learn  in  the 
Wilhelmstrasse  that  the  potato  crop  was  a  glittering 
success.  By  walking  through  the  country  and  pulling 
up  an  occasional  plant,  also  talking  to  the  farmers,  I 
concluded  that  it  was  a  dismal  failure,  which  conclu- 
sion I  announced  in  one  of  the  first  newspaper  articles 
I  wrote  after  I  had  left  Germany.  Recent  reports  from 
that  country  show  that  I  was  right,  which  increases  my 
conviction  that  the  confidential  tips  given  by  Germany's 
professional  experts,  who  instruct  neutral  visitors,  do 
very  well  to  make  Germany's  position  seem  better  than 
it  actually  is,  but  they  seldom  stand  the  acid  test  of 
history. 

Seeking  to  invent  excuses  is  not  peculiar  to  the  Ger- 
mans, but  it  is  more  prevalent  among  them  than  among 
any  other  people  that  I  know.  In  this  one  respect  the 
German  Government  is  a  Government  of  the  people. 
Some  of  the  diplomatic  explanations  which  have  ema- 
nated from  Berlin  during  the  war  have  been  weird  in 
their  absurdity  and  an  insult  to  the  intelligence  of  those 
to  whom  they  were  addressed. 

President  Wilson  did  not  accept  the  official  lie  con- 
cerning the  sinking  of  the  Arabic,  in  view  of  the  posi- 
tive proof  against  Germany,  and  Germany  backed 
down.  President  Wilson  did  not  accept  the  official  lie 
concerning  the  sinking  of  the  Sussex.  Incomprehensible 
as  it  is  to  the  Teutonic  mind,  he  attached  greater  weight 
to  the  first-hand  evidence  of  reliable  eye-witnesses,  plus 
fragments  of  the  torpedo  which  struck  the  vessel,  than 
to  the  sacred  words  of  the  German  Foreign  Office, 


278     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

which  had  the  impertinence  to  base  its  case  on  a  sketch, 
or  alleged  sketch,  hastily  made  by  a  U-boat  manipulator 
whose  artistic  temperament  should  have  led  him  to 
Munich  rather  than  to  Kiel.  The  crime  and  the  lie 
were  so  glaring  that  Germany  once  more  backed  down. 

Germany  lied  about  the  Dutch  liner  Tubantia.  As 
in  the  case  of  the  Sussex,  the  evidence  of  the  fragments 
of  torpedo  was  so  incontrovertible  that  Berlin  had  to 
admit  that  a  German  torpedo  sank  the  Tubantia,.  In- 
deed, one  fragment  contained  the  number  of  the  tor- 
pedo. During  my  travels  in  the  Fatherland  at  that 
time  I  found  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  those  with  whom 
I  discussed  the  matter  that  a  German  submarine  sank 
the  vessel,  though  many  were  of  the  opinion  that  it  was 
a  mistake. 

The  Wilhelmstrasse  is  tenacious,  however,  and  we 
awoke  one  morning  to  read  what  was  probably  its  most 
remarkable  excuse.  To  be  sure,  a  German  torpedo  sank 
the  Tubantia,  but  it  was  not  fired  by  the  Germans.  The 
expert  accountant  who  was  in  charge  of  the  U-boat 
learned  upon  consulting  his  books  that  he  fired  that 
torpedo  on  March  6.  It  did  not  strike  the  Tubantia 
until  March  16.  So  that  it  had  either  been  floating 
about  aimlessly  and  had  encountered  the  liner,  or  per- 
haps the  cunning  British  had  corraled  it  and  made  use 
of  it.  At  any  rate,  Berlin  disclaimed  all  responsibility 
for  its  acts  subsequent  to  the  day  it  parted  company 
with  the  German  submarine. 

The  path  of  the  torpedo,  however,  had  been  observed 
from  the  bridge  of  the  Tubantia. 

I  remarked  to  one  of  my  well-informed  confidants 
among  the  Social  Democratic  politicians  that  although 


HOW  GERMANY  DENIES  279 

it  is  perfectly  true  that  a  rolling  stone  gathers  no  moss, 
it  is  equally  true  that  a  moving  torpedo  leaves  no 
wake. 

"Yes,"  he  said  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  "our  For- 
eign Office  is  well  aware  of  that.  Have  you  not  noticed 
the  significance  of  the  two  dates,  March  6,  when  the 
torpedo  is  said  to  have  been  fired,  and  March  16,  when 
it  struck  ?  Do  you  not  see  that  our  diplomats  have  still 
one  more  loop-hole  in  case  they  are  pressed  ?  Is  it  not 
clear  that  they  could  find  a  way  out  of  their  absurd 
explanation  by  shifting  the  responsibility  to  the  man 
or  the  men  who  jotted  down  the  date  and  transferred 
it  ?  The  question  in  my  mind  is :  Who  lost  the  1  from 
the  16?" 

Be  that  as  it  may,  little  Holland,  enraged  at  the 
wanton  destruction  of  one  of  her  largest  vessels,  was 
not  in  a  position  to  enforce  her  demands.  Therefore 
Germany  did  not  back  down — that  is,  not  publicly. 

My  description  of  the  return  of  the  Prussian  Guard 
to  Potsdam  naturally  aroused  the  wrath  of  a  Govern- 
ment which  strives  incessantly  to  hide  80  much  from  its 
own  people  and  the  outside  world. 

Directly  the  article  reached  Germany  the  Govern- 
ment flashed  a  wireless  to  America  that  no  members  of 
the  Potsdam  Guard  returned  to  Potsdam  from  Contql- 
maison.  This  is  a  typical  German  denial  trick.  I 
never  mentioned  the  Potsdam  Guard. 

I  had  referred  to  the  Prussian  Guard. 

If  any  reader  of  this  chapter  cares  to  look  into  the 
files  of  English  newspapers  at  the  time  of  the  Contal- 
maison  battle,  for  such  it  was,  they  will  find  confirma- 
tion of  my  statements  as  to  the  presence  of  the  Prus- 


28o    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 


Guard  in  the  EngUsh  <kspai<te  published  in  the 
week  in  July. 

The  Contahnaisop  article  has  in  whole  or  in  part 
circulated  in  the  United  States,  and  also  in  the 
Sooth-American  Republics,  and  probably  in  other  neu- 
tral countries.  This  has  now  called  forth  a  semi-official 
detailed  denial,  which  I  print  herewith. 

It  is  signed  by  the  Head  Staff  Doctor  at  Potsdam, 
cue  Geronne,  by  itam**.  ITp  divides  his  contradiction 
into  ten  fbmsfti-  Each  of  the  first  nine  contains  an 
aluBHtilp  untruth. 

The  last  is  a  mere  comment  on  a  well-known  German 
alalKMiian,  who  told  me  that  as  I  was  seeking  the  truth 
in  Germany  I  had  better  go  and  find  it  at  Potsdam. 

I  wish  to  deal  with  the  denials  one  by  one,  as  each 

Oi  VT^THUD  ^J 


~L  The  hospital  train, 
which  reached  Potsdam  on 
Angnst  4,  and  was  there 
••loaded,  brought  wound- 
ed  men  from  Tarioos  troop 
drffinion«  TlBere  were  no 
Guards  among 


2.  Xo  wounded  man  is 
kept  concealed  in  Ger- 
many.  AD  are  consigned 
to  public  hospitals  or  laz- 
arete,  where  they  may  at 
any  time  be  visited  by 
their  rdatrres  and  friends, 


This  says  "Hospital 
fnin"  (singular).  I  de- 
scribed  hospital  trains 
(plural).  It  may  be  true 
that  ome  train  did  not  oon- 
tain  any  Prussian  Guards. 
I  did  not  happen  to  see 
train.  AH  Ae  traina 
I  saw  unloaded  Prus- 
sian Guard  Reserres. 

I  hare  never  said  that 
any  wounded  man  was 
kept  concealed  in  Ger- 
many.  I  hare  pointed  out 
that  the  whole  system  of 
the  German  placing  of  the 
wounded  is  to  hide  from 


HOW  GERMANY  DENIES 


the    Ger 

and  espec 

" 


3.  Hospital  trains  travel 
by  day  as  well  as  by  night, 
and,  in  accordance  with 
jiMrihrnfrinna^  are  unloaded 
only  in  the  daytime.  In 
case  they  reach  their  des- 
tination during  tin*  night, 
the  regulations  provide 
that  they  are  to  wait  until 
the  following  morning  be- 
fore 


4.  In    order    that    the 

loading    Or    unloading    of 

the  vehicles  which  trans- 
port the  wounded  to  die 
lazarets  may  proceed  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  it  is 
necessary  to  keep  the  sur- 
roundings of  the  train 
dear.  The  wounded  must 
also  be  spared  all  annoy- 
ance and.  curiosity  on  the 
part  of  the  public. 


5.  Dead  men  hare 
never  been  unloaded  from 
the  lazaret  trains  at  Pots- 
dam— t  herefore  there 
could  have  been  none  on 


ion, 


tent  of  their  wounded. 

This  is  absolutely  un- 
true. The  number  of 
wounded  arriving  at  the 
depots  in  Germany  is  now 
so  great  that  the  trains  are 
obliged  to  be  imlfqyifd 
whenever  they  arrive,  by 
day  or  by  night.  I  have 
witnessed  both. 


The  whole  of  this  para- 
graph is  a  transparent  dis- 
tortion of  fact.  What  hap- 
pens at  Potsdam  and  what 
happens  everywhere  else 
is  that  a  cordon  of  police 

fin  rKMHMiji    ^IM*    9fpnq*    fnta 

drives  the  public  by  force 
in  the  usual  Prussian  way, 
if  necessary,  from  die 

method  by  which  I  wit- 
nessed what  was  going  on 
at  die  railway  station  from 
the  railway  station 
freshment  room  itself. 

I  saw  die  dead  ma 


re- 


2  8  2     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 


August  4,  1916.  The  prin- 
ciple of  transporting  the 
wounded  is  based  upon  the 
ability  of  the  wounded  to 
bear  transportation.  All 
those  who  suffer  during 
the  journey  are  removed 
to  a  hospital  at  the  fron- 
tier. 

6.  The  furniture  vans 
used  for  transporting 
wounded  to  the  hospitals 
at  Potsdam  and  other 
cities  have  proved  a  great 
success.  These  vans,  more- 
over, all  bear  the  sign  of 
the  Red  Cross,  and  may 
easily  be  recognised  as 
hospital  vehicles. 


7.  That  men  who  are 
seriously  wounded  should 
give  one  an  impression  of 
weariness  goes  without 
saying.  Lightly  wounded 
men  who  travel  from  the 
Somme  to  Boulogne  may 
make  a  better  appearance 
than  the  seriously  wound- 
ed who  have  made  the  long 
journey  from  the  West 
front  to  Potsdam. 


A  transparent  untruth 
on  the  face  of  it.  If  only 
one  train  came  into  Pots- 
dam why  use  furniture 
vans  at  all  ?  The  furni- 
ture vans  are  used  for  pur- 
poses of  concealment,  and 
because  the  very  large  am- 
bulance supply  always  on 
duty  at  the  great  military 
hospitals  at  Potsdam  was 
unequal  to  the  task.  I  saw 
no  Red  Cross  indications. 

My  statement  is  that  all 
the  German  wounded  at 
the  present  stage  of  the 
war,  lightly  or  otherwise, 
compare  badly  with  the 
English  and  French 
wounded,  whom  I  have 
seen.  They  are  utterly 
war  weary  and  suffering 
not  so  much  from  shell 
shock  as  from  surprise 
shock,  the  revelation  of  the 
creation  of  a  British 
Army  that  had  never  oc- 
curred to  the  German  sol- 
diers. 


HOW  GERMANY  DENIES 


283 


8.  As     to     the     great 
"Hush !  hush !  machinery" 
— what  is  one  to  call  the 
attempt  to  keep  the  truth 
from  neutrals   by   closing 
English  harbours  near  the 
Channel   to   neutral   ship- 
ping for  whole  days  at  a 
time — during    which    the 
English  ship-transports  of 
wounded  proceed  to  Eng< 
land? 

9.  The  fi  g  u  r  e  s  pub- 
lished by  the  Ministry  of 
War  concerning  the  num- 
bers    of     men     dismissed 
from  lazarets    (hospitals) 
are    based    upon    unques- 
tionable statistics.     These 
statistics  remain  as  given 
— despite    all    the    asper- 
sions of  our  enemies. 


I  have  made  inquiries 
of  British  officials,  and 
they  tell  me  that  it  is  abso- 
lutely untrue  that  the 
channel  is  closed  to  neu- 
tral shipping  when  the 
English  hospital  trans- 
ports proceed  to  England. 
This  untruth  is  on  a  par 
with  the  others. 


An  interesting  revela- 
tion as  to  German  casualty 
lists.  It  is  stated  by  this 
head  medical  officer  of 
Potsdam  that  these  lists 
are  drawn  up  from  the 
men  dismissed  from  laz- 
arets (hospitals),  that  is 
to  say,  this  doctor  admits 
that  the  custom  is  now  to 
keep  back  the  casualty 
lists  until  the  man  is  dis- 
charged, whereas  your 
British  lists,  I  am  in- 
formed on  authority,  are 
published  as  speedily  as 
possible  after  the  soldier  is 
wounded.  The  whole  of 
the  German  wounded  now 
in  hospitals  have  not  yet, 
therefore,  been  included 
in  casualty  lists — the  cas- 
ualties which  are  forcing 
the  Germans  to  employ 
every  kind  of  labour  they 


284    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

can  enslave  or  enroll  from 
Belgium,  Poland,  France, 
and  now  from  their  own 
people  from  sixteen  up  to 
sixty  years  of  age  of  both 
sexes. 

10.  It  would  prove  in-          For  obvious   reasons   I 
teresting  to  learn  the  name  decline     to     subject     my 
of  the  "patriotic  German  friend  to  the  certain  pun- 
Statesman,"  who  is  said  to  ishment  that  would  follow 
cherish  the  same  opinions  disclosure  of  his  name, 
as  this  writer  in  the  Daily 
Mail. 

I  regret  to  burden  readers  with  a  chapter  so  personal 
to  myself,  but  I  think  that  anyone  who  studies  these 
German  denials  with  the  preceding  chapter  on  the  Con- 
talmaison  wounded  will  learn  at  least  as  much  about 
the  German  mind  as  he  would  by  studying  the  famous 
British  White  paper  of  August,  1914. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
GERMANY'S  HUMAN  RESOURCES 

THREE  factors  are  of  chief  importance  in  estimating 
German  man-power.  First,  the  number  of  men  of 
military  age;  second,  the  number  of  these  that  are  in- 
dispensable in  civil  life;  third,  the  number  of  casual- 
ties. Concerning  the  last  two  there  are  great  differences 
of  opinion  among  military  critics  in  Allied  and  neu- 
tral countries.  As  regards  the  first  there  need  be  little 
difference,  although  I  confess  surprise  at  the  number 
of  people  I  have  met  who  believe  the  grotesque  myth 
that  Germany  has  systematically  concealed  her  increase 
in  population,  and  that  instead  of  being  a  nation  of 
less  than  seventy  millions  she  has  really  more  than  one 
hundred  millions. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  at  the  outbreak  of  war  Germany 
was  a  nation  of  68,000,000,  of  whom  33,500,000  were 
males.  Of  these  nearly  14,000,000  were  between  18 
and  45 ;  350,000  men  over  45  are  also  with  the  Colours. 
The  boys  who  were  then  16  and  17  can  now  be  added, 
giving  us  a  grand  total  of  some  15,000,000. 

Normally  Germany  employed  men  of  between  18  and 
45  as  follows :— Mines,  600,000;  metals,  800,000; 
transport,  650,000 ;  agriculture,  3,000,000 ;  clothing, 
food  preparation,  1,000,000,  making  a  total  of  6,- 
050,000. 

Up  to  this  point  there  can  be  little  difference  of 

285 


286     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

opinion.  From  this  point  on,  however,  I  must,  like 
others  who  deal  with  the  subject,  make  estimates  upon 
data  obtained.  During  my  last  visit  to  Germany  I 
systematically  employed  a  rough  check  on  the  figures 
derived  through  the  usual  channels.  Concentrated  ef- 
fort to  obtain  first-hand  information  in  city,  village,  and 
countryside,  north,  east,  south,  and  west,  with  eyes 
and  ears  open,  and  vocal  organs  constantly  used  for 
purposes  of  interrogation,  naturally  yielded  consider- 
able data  when  carried  over  a  period  of  ten  months. 
The  changes  from  my  last  visit  and  from  peace  time 
were  also  duly  observed  as  were  the  differences  between 
Germany  and  the  other  nations  I  had  visited  during 
the  war.  Walking,  of  which  I  did  a  colossal  amount, 
was  most  instructive,  because  it  afforded  me  an  oppor- 
tunity to  study  conditions  in  the  villages.  Discreet 
questioning  gave  me  accurate  statistics  in  hundreds  of 
these  that  I  visited,  and  of  many  more  hundreds  that 
I  asked  about  from  people  whom  I  met  on  my  travels. 
For  example,  in  Oberammergau,  which  had  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  1,900  inhabitants,  about  350  had 
been  called  to  the  Colours  when  I  was  there,  and  of 
these  thirty-nine  had  been  killed. 

My  investigations  in  the  Fatherland  convinced  me 
that  of  the  3,000,000  men  between  18  and  45  formerly 
engaged  in  agriculture,  considerably  fewer  than  100,- 
000  continue  to  be  thus  occupied.  This  work  is  done 
by  prisoners  and  women.  Mine  and  metal  work  have 
kept  from  60  to  70  per  cent,  of  their  men  of  military 
age;  but  transport,  already  cut  somewhat,  lost  25  per 
cent,  of  the  remainder  when  Hindenburg  assumed  su- 
preme command,  which  would  reduce  650,000  to  about 


GERMANY'S  HUMAN  RESOURCES  287 

300,000.  More  than  90  per  cent,  of  those  engaged  in 
the  preparation  of  food  and  the  making  of  clothing  have 
been  called  up.  Thus  of  the  6,050,000  engaged  in  the 
occupations  given  above,  about  1,750,000  remain, 
which  means  that  more  than  4,000,000  have  been  called 
to  the  Colours. 

From  building  and  allied  trades  at  least  90  per  cent, 
are  in  military  uniform.  Assuming  that  some  2,000,- 
000  men  of  military  age  are  included  in  indispensable 
engineers,  fishermen,  chemists,  physically  unfit,  and  so 
forth,  we  conclude  on  this  basis  that  Germany  can  en- 
rol in  her  Army  and  Navy  more  than  11,000,000  men. 

We  may  approach  the  subject  from  a  somewhat  dif- 
ferent angle  by  considering  what  percentage  of  her 
total  population  Germany  could  call  to  the  Colours  un- 
der stress — and  she  is  to-day  under  stress.  Savage 
tribes  have  been  known  to  put  one-fifth  under  arms. 
An  industrial  State  such  as  Germany  cannot  go  to  this 
extreme.  Yet  by  using  every  means  within  her  power 
she  makes  a  very  close  approach  to  it.  In  practically 
every  village  of  which  I  secured  figures  in  Saxony,  Ba- 
varia, Posen,  East  Prussia,  West  Prussia,  Pomerania, 
Mecklenburg,  and  Oldenburg,  a  fifth  or  nearly  a  fifth 
have  been  called  up.  In  some  Silesian  and  Rhenish- 
Westphalian  districts,  however,  not  more  than  from  a 
seventh  to  a  tenth.  If  we  allow  for  all  Germany  a  lit- 
tle less  than  one-sixth,  we  get  11,000,000. 

What  are  the  factors  which  enable  Germany  to  call 
this  number  or  a  little  more  than  this  number  to  the 
Colours?  First,  the  organisation  of  the  women.  I 
have  seen  them  even  in  the  forges  of  Rhineland  doing 
the  work  of  strong  men.  "The  finest  women  in  the 


288     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

world,  these  Rhinelanders,"  as  one  manager  put  it. 
"Just  look  at  that  one  lift  that  weight.  Few  men  could 
do  better."  And  his  eyes  sparkled  with  enthusiasm. 

Second,  and  of  tremendous  importance,  are  the  huge 
numbers  of  prisoners  in  Germany,  and  her  sensible  de- 
termination to  make  them  work.  She  has  taken  about 
one  and  two-third  millions  on  the  field  of  battle.  There 
also  happen  to  ~be  in  Germany  nearly  a  million  other 
prisoners,  buried  alive,  whose  existence  has  apparently 
escaped  the  notice  of  the  outside  world.  These  are  the 
Russian  civilians  who  were  caught  in  the  German  trap 
when  it  snapped  suddenly  tight  in  the  summer  of  1914. 
Before  the  war  2,000,000  Russians  used  to  go  to  Ger- 
many at  harvest  time.  The  war  began  at  harvest  time. 
The  number  of  these  men,  which  from  my  own  first- 
hand investigations  in  the  remote  country  districts  I 
estimate  at  nearly  a  million,  would  have  escaped  my 
notice  also,  had  I  not  walked  across  Germany. 

Another  important  factor  in  the  labour  problem  in 
Germany  is  the  employment  of  the  Poles.  !N"ot  only 
are  they  employed  on  the  land,  but  great  colonies  of 
them  have  grown  up  in  Diisseldorf  and  other  industrial 
centres.  I  saw  an  order  instructing  the  military  com- 
mandants throughout  Germany  to  warn  the  Poles, 
whose  discontent  with  the  food  conditions  in  Germany 
made  them  desire  to  return  home,  that  conditions  in 
Poland  were  much  worse.  This,  then,  is  an  official 
German  admission  that  there  is  starvation  in  Poland, 
for  much  worse  could  mean  nothing  else.  Germany  is 
keeping  Poland  a  sealed  book,  although  I  admit  that 
she  occasionally  takes  tourists  to  see  the  German-fos- 
tered university  at  Warsaw.  Just  before  I  left  Ger- 


GERMANY'S  HUMAN  RESOURCES  289 

many  still  another  order  was  issued  for  the  regulation 
of  neutral  correspondents.  Under  no  circumstances 
were  they  to  be  allowed  to  talk  with  the  natives  in  Po- 
land. From  unimpeachable  authority  I  learned  that 
the  Poles  were  intensely  discouraged  at  the  thorough- 
ness with  which  the  Prussians  stripped  the  country  af- 
ter the  last  harvest,  and  that  in  some  sections  the  people 
are  actually  dying  of  hunger.  Even  in  Warsaw,  the 
death-rate  in  some  neighbourhoods  has  increased  from 
TOO  to  800  per  cent.  I  was  witness  to  German  rage 
when  Viscount  Grey  stipulated  that  food  could  be  sent 
there  only  if  the  natives  were  allowed  to  have  the  prod- 
uce of  their  own  land.  Prussia  wanted  that  produce, 
and  she  got  it. 

I  mention  these  supplies  here  because  the  Poles  who 
worked  to  produce  them  must  be  included  in  German 
labour  estimates  just  as  much  as  though  they  had  been 
working  in  Germany. 

Germany  also  adds  to  her  man-power  by  utilising 
her  wounded  so  far  as  possible.  Her  efforts  in  this 
direction  are  praiseworthy,  since  they  not  only  con- 
tribute to  the  welfare  of  the  State,  but  benefit  the  in- 
dividual. I  have  seen  soldiers  with  one  leg  gone,  or 
parts  of  both  legs  gone,  doing  a  full  day's  work  mend- 
ing uniforms.  The  blind  are  taught  typewriting,  which 
enables  them  to  earn  an  independent  living  in  Govern- 
ment employ.  In  short,  work  is  found  for  everybody 
who  can  do  anything  at  all. 

In  a  previous  chapter  I  have  spoken  of  the  organisa- 
tion of  the  children,  a  factor  which  should  not  be  left 

out  of  consideration. 

***** 


290    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Having  considered  the  assets,  let  us  turn  to  the  debits. 

The  German  casualty  lists  to  the  end  of  1916  total 
4,010,160,  of  which  909,665  have  been  killed  or  died 
of  wonnds.  My  investigations  in  Germany  lead  me  to 
put  the  German  killed  or  died  of  wounds  at  1,200,000, 
and  the  total  casualties  at  close  to  5,000,000.  If  we 
assume  that  50  per  cent,  of  all  wounded  return  to  the 
front  and  another  25  per  cent,  to  service  in  the  interior, 
we  must  also  consider  in  computation  of  man-power 
that  the  casualty  lists  do  not  include  the  vast  num- 
bers of  invalided  and  the  sick,  which  almost  balance 
those  that  return  to  the  front.  This  means,  in  short, 
that  the  net  losses  are  nearly  as  great  at  any  one  time 
as  the  gross  losses.  Consequently,  according  to  my  es- 
timates there  must  be  at  least  4,500,000  Germans  out 
of  action  at  this  moment. 

In  a  war  of  attrition  it  is  the  number  of  men  def- 
initely out  of  action  which  counts,  for  the  German  lines 
can  be  successfully  broken,  and  only  successfully 
broken,  when  there  are  not  enough  men  to  hold  them. 
The  Germans  now  have  in  the  West  probably  about  130 
divisions. 

Hindenburg's  levies  in  the  late  summer  were  so  enor- 
mous that  I  am  convinced  from  what  I  saw  in  Germany 
that  she  has  now  called  almost  everything  possible  to 
the  Colours.  One  of  Hindenburg's  stipulations  in  tak- 
ing command  was  that  he  should  always  have  a  force 
of  half  a  million  to  throw  wherever  he  wished.  We 
have  seen  the  result  in  Rumania,  and  the  men  skimmed 
from  the  training  units  then  have  been  replaced  by  this 
last  great  levy  from  civilian  life. 

Therefore,    with   something   over   11,000,000   men 


GERMANY'S  HUMAN  RESOURCES  291 

called  up,  Germany  has  now  6,000,000,  or  a  little  more 
all  told,  many  of  whom  are  not  at  all  suited  for  service 
at  the  front. 

Germany  on  the  defensive  at  the  Somme  certainly 
lost  at  least  600,000  men.  Attrition,  to  be  sure,  works 
both  ways,  but  if  the  Germans  are  out-gunned  this  year 
in  the  West  to  the  extent  expected  their  position  must 
become  untenable.  The  deadly  work  of  reducing  Ger- 
man man-power  continues  even  though  the  Allied  line 
does  not  advance.  I  know  of  a  section  of  the  German 
front  opposite  the  French  last  winter  which  for  five 
months  did  not  have  an  action  of  sufficient  importance 
to  be  mentioned  by  either  side  in  the  official  reports,  yet 
the  Germans  lost  10  per  cent  of  their  effectives  in 
killed. 

The  more  munitions  the  Allies  make  Germany  use, 
the  more  fat  she  must  use  for  this  purpose,  and  the  less 
she  will  have  for  the  civil  population,  with  a  conse- 
quent diminution  of  their  output  of  work.  Germany 
simply  cannot  burn  the  candle  at  both  ends, 


CHAPTER  XXV 

BERLIN'S  EAST-END 

% 

THE  poor  of  Berlin  live  in  the  north  and  east  of  the 
city.  I  have  seen  Berlin's  East-end  change  from 
the  hilarious  joy  of  the  first  year  of  the  war  to  an 
ever-deepening  gloom.  I  have  studied  conditions  there 
long  and  carefully,  but  I  feel  that  I  can  do  no  better 
than  describe  my  last  Saturday  in  that  interesting  quar- 
ter of  the  German  capital. 

Late  in  the  morning  I  left  the  Stettiner  Bahnhof  in 
the  north  and  walked  eastward  through  the  Invaliden- 
strasse.  There  was  practically  no  meat  in  the  butchers' 
shops,  just  the  customary  lines  of  empty  hooks.  A  long 
queue  farther  on  attracted  my  attention  and  I  crossed 
the  street  to  see  what  the  people  were  waiting  for.  A 
glance  at  the  dark  red  carcases  in  the  shop  told  me  that 
this  was  horse-meat  day  for  that  district. 

The  number  of  vacant  shops  of  all  descriptions  was 
increasing.  The  small  shoemaker  and  tailor  were  clos- 
ing up.  The  centralisation  of  food  distribution  is 
greater  here  than  in  the  better-class  districts,  with  the 
result  that  many  small  shopkeepers  have  been  driven 
out  of  business.  In  parts  of  Lothringerstrasse  a  quar- 
ter of  the  shops  were  vacant,  in  other  parts  one-half. 
The  bakers'  shops  are  nearly  empty  except  at  morning 
and  evening.  In  fact,  after  my  long  sojourn  in  block- 
aded Germany  I  still  find  myself  after  two  months  iu 

292 


BERLIN'S  EAST-END  293 

England  staring  in  amazement  at  the  well-stocked  shop 
windows  of  every  description. 

Shortly  before  noon  I  reached  the  Zentral  Viehund- 
Schlachthof  (the  slaughter-houses).  Through  a  great 
gateway  poured  women  and  children,  each  carrying 
some  sort  of  a  tin  or  dish  full  of  stew.  Some  of  the 
children  were  scarcely  beyond  the  age  of  babyhood,  and 
their  faces  showed  unmistakable  traces  of  toil.  The 
poor  little  things  drudged  hard  enough  in  peace 
time,  and  in  war  they  are  merely  part  of  the  big 
machine. 

The  diminishing  supply  of  cattle  and  pigs  for  kill- 
ing has  afforded  an  opportunity  to  convert  a  section 
of  the  slaughter-houses  into  one  of  the  great  People's 
Kitchens.  Few  eat  there,  however.  Just  before  noon 
and  at  noon  the  people  come  in  thousands  for  the 
stew,  which  costs  forty  pfennigs  (about  5d.)  a  quart, 
and  a  quart  is  supposed  to  be  enough  for  a  meal  and  a 
half. 

I  have  been  in  the  great  Schlachthof  kitchen,  where 
I  have  eaten  the  stew,  and  I  have  nothing  but  praise 
for  the  work  being  done.  This  kitchen,  like  the  others 
I  have  visited,  is  the  last  word  in  neatness.  The  labour- 
saving  devices,  such  as  electric  potato-parers,  are  of  the 
most  modern  type.  In  fact,  the  war  is  increasing  the 
demand  for  labour-saving  machinery  in  Germany  to  at 
least  as  great  an  extent  as  high  wages  have  caused  such 
a  demand  in  America.  Among  the  women  who  prepare 
the  food  and  wait  upon  the  people  there  is  a  noticeable 
spirit  of  co-operation  and  a  pride  in  the  part  they  are 
playing  to  help  the  Fatherland  durchhalten  (hold  out). 
Should  any  of  the  stew  remain  unsold  it  is  taken  by  a 


294    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

well-known  .restaurant  in  the  Potsdamer  Platz,  which 
has  a  contract  with  the  municipal  authorities.  Little 
was  wasted  in  Germany  before  the  war;  nothing,  abso- 
lutely nothing,  is  wasted  to-day. 

As  at  the  central  slaughter-house,  so  in  other  districts 
the  poor  are  served  in  thousands  with  standard  stew. 
The  immense  Alexander  Market  has  been  cleared  of 
its  booths  and  tables  and  serves  more  than  30,000 
people.  One  director  of  this  work  told  me  that  the 
Berlin  authorities  would  supply  nearly  400,000  people 
before  the  end  of  the  winter. 

The  occasional  soldier  met  in  the  streets  looked  shab- 
bier in  the  shabby  surroundings  of  the  East.  The  Ger- 
man uniform,  which  once  evoked  unstinted  praise,  is 
suffering  sadly  to-day  owing  to  lack  of  raw  materials. 
I  was  in  a  Social  Democratic  district,  but  the  men  in 
uniform  who  were  home  on  leave  were  probably  "good" 
Social  Democrats,  since  it  is  notorious  that  the  regular 
variety  are  denied  this  privilege. 

The  faces  of  the  soldiers  were  like  the  rest  of  the 
faces  I  saw  that  day.  There  was  not  the  least  trace 
of  the  cheerful,  confident  expression  of  the  days  when 
all  believed  that  the  Kaiser's  armies  would  hammer 
their  way  to  an  early  peace — "in  three  months,"  as 
people  used  to  say  during  the  first  year  and  a  quarter  of 
the  war.  Verdun  had  been  promised  them  as  a  certain 
key  to  early  peace,  and  Admiral  Scheer  was  deified  as 
the  immortal  who  tore  loose  the  British  clutch  from  the 
German  throat.  But  Verdun  and  Jutland  faded  in 
succeeding  months  before  the  terrible  first-hand  evi- 
dence that  the  constant  diminution  of  food  made  life  a 
struggle  day  after  day  and  week  after  week.  The  news 


BERLIN'S  EAST-END  295 

from  Rumania,  though  good,  would  bring  them  no  cheer 
until  it  was  followed  by  plenty  of  food. 

In  the  vicinity  of  the  Schlesischer  Bahnhof  occurred 
a  trifling  incident  which  gave  me  an  opportunity  to  see 
the  inside  of  a  poor  German  home  that  day.  A  soldier 
in  faded  field-grey,  home  on  leave,  asked  me  for  a 
match.  During  the  conversation  which  followed  I  said 
that  I  was  an  American,  but  to  my  surprise  he  did  not 
make  the  usual  German  reply  that  the  war  would  have 
been  ended  long  ago  if  it  had  not  been  for  American 
ammunition.  On  the  contrary,  he  showed  an  interest 
in  my  country,  as  he  had  a  brother  there,  and  finally 
asked  me  if  I  would  step  into  his  home  and  explain  a 
few  things  to  him  with  the  aid  of  a  map. 

Though  I  was  in  a  district  of  poverty  the  room  I 
entered  was  commendably  clean.  An  old  picture  of 
William  I.  hung  on  one  wall;  opposite  was  Bismarck. 
Over  the  low  door  was  an  unframed  portrait  of  "unscr 
Kaiser,"  while  Hindenburg  completed  the  collection. 
Wooden  hearts,  on  which  were  printed  the  names  Liege, 
Maubeuge,  and  Antwerp,  recalled  the  days  when  Ger- 
man hearts  were  light  and  German  tongues  were  full 
of  brag. 

A  girl  of  ten  entered  the  room.  She  hated  the  war 
because  she  had  to  rush  every  day  at  noon  from  school 
to  the  People's  Kitchen  to  fetch  the  family  stew.  In 
the  afternoon  she  had  to  look  after  the  younger  chil- 
dren while  her  mother  stood  in  the  long  lines  before 
the  shops  where  food  was  sold.  The  family  were  grow- 
ing tired  of  stew  day  after  day.  They  missed  the  good 
German  sausage  and  unlimited  amount  of  bread  and 
butter. 


296     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

The  mother  looked  in  on  her  way  to  the  street,  bas- 
ket under  arm.  She  was  tired,  and  was  dulled  by  the 
daily  routine  of  trying  to  get  food.  She  talked  bitterly 
about  the  war,  but  though  she  blamed  the  Agrarians  for 
not  doing  their  part  to  relieve  the  food  situation,  she 
expressed  no  animosity  against  her  own  Government. 
The  father  had  been  through  Lodz  in  Hindenburg's  two 
frontal  assaults  on  Warsaw,  where  he  had  seen  the 
slopes  covered  with  forests  of  crosses  marking  the  Ger- 
man dead,  and  his  words  were  bitter,  too,  when  he 
talked  of  his  lost  comrades.  And  then,  the  depressing 
feeling  of  returning  from  an  army  pursuing  the  mirage 
of  victory  to  find  his  family  and  every  other  family 
struggling  in  the  meshes  of  that  terrible  and  relentless 
blockade ! 

It  never  had  occurred  to  him  that  his  Government 
might  be  in  the  least  responsible  for  the  misery  of  his 
country.  Like  the  great  bulk  of  the  German  people  he 
is  firmly  convinced  that  the  Fatherland  has  been  fight- 
ing a  war  of  defence  from  the  very  beginning.  "To 
think  that  one  nation,  England,  is  responsible  for  all 
this  suffering!"  was  the  way  that  he  put  it.  He  is  a 
"good"  Social  Democrat. 

When  I  once  more  resumed  my  walk  I  saw  the  lines 
of  people  waiting  for  food  in  every  street.  Each  time 
I  turned  a  corner  great  black  masses  dominated  the 
scene.  I  paused  at  a  line  of  more  than  three  hundred 
waiting  for  potatoes.  Ten  yards  away  not  a  sound 
could  be  heard.  The  very  silence  added  to  the  depres- 
sion. With  faces  anxious  and  drawn  they  stood  four 
abreast,  and  moved  with  the  orderliness  of  soldiers. 
Not  a  sign  of  disturbance,  and  not  a  policeman  in  sight. 


BERLIN'S  EAST-END  297 

Some  women  were  mending  socks ;  a  few,  standing  on 
the  edge  of  the  closely  packed  column,  pushed  baby  car- 
riages as  they  crawled  hour  after  hour  toward  the  nar- 
row entrance  of  the  shop. 

Every  line  was  like  the  rest.  The  absence  of  police- 
men is  particularly  noteworthy,  since  they  had  to  be 
present  in  the  early  days — a  year  ago — when  the  butter 
lines  came  into  being.  Drastic  measures  were  taken 
when  the  impatient  women  rioted.  Those  days  are  over. 
The  Government  has  taught  the  people  a  lesson.  They 
will  wait  hour  after  hour,  docile  and  obedient  hence- 
forth, if  necessary  until  they  drop — make  no  mistake 
of  that. 

But  the  authorities  also  learned  a  lesson.  "People 
think  most  of  revolution  when  they  are  hungry,"  was 
what  one  leader  said  to  me.  On  this  Saturday  of  which 
I  write  not  a  potato  was  to  be  bought  in  the  West-end 
of  Berlin,  where  the  better  classes  live.  Berlin  had 
been  without  potatoes  for  nearly  a  week.  To-day  they 
had  arrived,  and  the  first  to  come  were  sent  to  the  East- 
end.  In  the  West-end  the  people  are  filled  with  more 
unquestioning  praise  of  everything  the  Government 
does ;  they  applaud  when  their  Kaiser  confers  an  Order 
upon  their  Crown  Prince  for  something,  not  quite  clear, 
which  he  is  supposed  to  have  accomplished  at  Verdun. 
Therefore  they  can  wait  for  potatoes  until  the  more 
critical  East-end  is  supplied. 

I  went  farther  eastward  through  the  Kottbuser  dis- 
trict to  the  Kottbuser  Ufer  on  the  canal,  along  which 
a  couple  of  hundred  people  waited  in  an  orderly  calumn 
without  any  guardian — another  evidence  of  the  success 
of  the  drastic  measures  of  July  and  early  August,  when 


298     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

the  demonstrations  against  the  war  were  nipped  in  the 
bud.  These  people  were  waiting  for  the  free  advertise- 
ment sheets  from  the  gaudily  painted  yellow  Ullstein 
newspaper  building  across  the  square.  They  had  to 
stand  by  the  side  of  the  canal  because  a  queue  of  sev- 
eral hundred  people  waiting  for  potatoes  wound  slowly 
before  Ullstein's  to  the  underground  potato-shop  next 
door. 

I  had  not  heard  a  laugh  or  seen  anybody  smile  all 
day,  and  when  darkness  fell  on  the  weary  city  I  went  to 
a  cheap  little  beer-room  where  several  "bad,"  but  really 
harmless,  Social  Democrats  used  to  gather.  Among 
them  was  the  inevitable  one  who  had  been  to  America, 
and  I  had  become  acquainted  with  them  through  him. 
They  talked  in  the  new  strain  of  their  type,  that  they 
might  as  well  be  under  the  British  or  French  as  under 
their  own  Government. 

Their  voices  were  low — a  rare  event  where  Germans 
gather  at  table.  They  did  not  plot,  they  merely 
grumbled  incessantly.  The  end  of  the  war  had  def- 
initely sunk  below  their  horizon,  and  peace,  not  merely 
steps  to  peace,  was  what  they  longed  for.  There  was 
the  customary  ciirsing  of  the  Agrarians  and  the  expres- 
sions of  resolve  to  have  a  new  order  of  freedom  after 
the  war,  expressions  which  I  believe  will  not  be  real- 
ised unless  Germany  is  compelled  to  accept  peace  by 
superior  forces  from  without. 

I  left  the  dreary  room  for  the  dreary  streets,  and 
turned  towards  the  centre  and  West-end  of  Berlin, 
where  the  cafe  lights  were  bright  and  tinkling  music 
made  restricted  menu-cards  easier  to  bear. 

Suddenly  the  oppressive  feeling  of  the  East-end  was 


BERLIN'S  EAST-END  299 

dispelled  by  the  strains  of  military  music  drawing 
closer  in  a  street  near  by.  I  hurried  towards  it,  and 
saw  a  band  marching  at  the  head  of  two  companies  of 
wounded  soldiers,  their  bandages  showing  white  under 
the  bright  street  lights  of  Berlin. 

The  men  were  returning  to  their  hospital  off  the 
Prenzlauer  Allee  from  a  day's  outing  on  the  River 
Spree.  Scores  of  followers  swelled  to  hundreds.  The 
troubles  of  the  day  were  forgotten.  Eyes  brightened 
as  the  throng  kept  step  with  the  martial  music.  A  roll 
of  drum,  a  flare  of  brass,  and  the  crowd,  scattered  voices 
at  first,  and  then  swelling  in  a  grand  crescendo,  sang 
Deutschland  uber  Alles.  To-morrow  they  would  com- 
plain again  of  food  shortage  and  sigh  for  peace,  but  to- 
night they  would  dream  of  victory. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

IN   THE   DEEPENING   SHADOW 

A  LITTLE,  bent  old  woman,  neat,  shrivelled,   with 
clear,  healthy  eye  and  keen  intelligence,  was  col- 
lecting acorns  in  the  park  outside  the  great  Schloss,  the 
residence  of  von  Oppen,  a  relative  of  the  Police  Presi- 
dent of  Berlin. 

I  had  walked  long  and  was  about  to  eat  rny  picnic 
lunch,  and  stopped  and  spoke  with  her.  We  soon  came 
to  the  one  topic  in  Germany — the  war.  She  was  eighty- 
four  years  of  age,  she  told  me,  and  she  worked  for 
twelve  hours  a  day.  Her  mother  had  seen  Napoleon 
pass  through  the  red-roofed  village  hard  by.  She  well 
remembered  what  she  called  "the  Bismarck  wars."  She 
was  of  the  old  generation,  for  she  spoke  of  the  Kaiser 
as  "the  King." 

"No,"  she  said,  "this  war  is  not  going  like  the  Bis- 
marck wars — not  like  the  three  that  happened  in  1864, 
1866,  1870,  within  seven  years  when  I  was  a  young 
woman."  She  was  referring,  of  course,  to  Denmark, 
Austria,  and  France.  "We  have  lost  many  in  our  vil- 
lage— food  is  hard  to  get."  Here  she  pointed  to  the  two 
thin  slices  of  black  bread  which  were  to  form  her  mid- 
day meal.  She  did  not  grumble  at  her  twelve  hours' 
day  in  the  fields,  which  were  in  addition  to  the  work 
of  her  little  house,  but  she  wished  that  she  could  have 
half  an  hour  in  which  to  read  history. 

300 


IN  THE  DEEPENING  SHADOW      301 

Her  belief  was  that  the  war  would  be  terminated  by 
the  Zeppelins.  "When  our  humane  King  really  gives 
the  word,  the  English  ships  and  towns  will  all  be  de- 
stroyed by  our  Zeppelins.  He  is  holding  back  his  great 
secret  of  destruction  out  of  kindness." 

The  remark  of  that  simple,  but  intelligent  old  woman 
as  to  the  restraint  imposed  by  the  Kaiser  upon  the  Zep- 
pelins constituted  the  universal  belief  of  all  Germany 
until  the  British  doggedly  built  up  an  air  service  under 
the  stress  of  necessity,  which  has  brilliantly  checked  the 
aerial  carnival  of  frightfulness.  People  in  Great 
Britain  seem  to  have  no  conception  of  the  great  part 
the  Zeppelins  were  to  play  in  the  war,  according  to 
German  imagination.  That  simple  old  peasant  lady 
expressed  the  views  that  had  been  uttered  to  me  by  in- 
telligent members  of  the  Reichstag — bankers,  mer- 
chants, men  and  women  of  all  degrees.  The  first  de- 
struction of  Zeppelins — that  by  Lieutenant  Warneford, 
and  the  bringing  down  of  L  Z77  at  Revigny,  did  not 
produce  much  disappointment.  The  war  was  going 
well  in  other  directions.  But  the  further  destruction 
of  Zeppelins  has  had  almost  as  much  to  do  with  the  de- 
sire for  peace,  in  the  popular  mind,  as  the  discomfort 
and  illness  caused  by  food  shortage  and  the  perpetual 
hammerings  by  the  French  and  British  Armies  in  the 
West. 

It  should  be  realised  that  the  Zeppelin  has  been  a 
fetish  of  the  Germans  for  the  last  ten  years.  The 
Kaiser  started  the  worship  by  publicly  kissing  Count 
Zeppelin,  and  fervently  exclaiming  that  he  was  the 
greatest  man  of  the  century.  Thousands  of  pictures 
have  been  imagined  of  Zeppelins  dropping  bombs  on 


302     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Buckingham  Palace,  the  Bank  of  England,  and  the 
Grand  Fleet.  For  a  long  time,  owing  to  the  hiding  of 
the  facts  in  England  of  the  Zeppelin  raids,  even  high 
German  officials  believed  that  immense  damage  had 
been  done.  The  French  acted  more  wisely.  They  al- 
lowed full  descriptions  of  the  aeroplane  and  Zeppelin 
raids  in  France  to  be  published,  and  the  result  was  dis- 
couraging to  the  Germans.  I  remember  studying  the 
British  Zeppelin  communiques  with  Germans.  At  that 
time  the  London  Authorities  were  constantly  referring 
to  these  raids  taking  place  in  the  "Eastern  counties," 
when  the  returned  Germans  knew  exactly  where  they 
had  been.  The  result  was  great  encouragement.  Noth- 
ing did  more  to  depress  the  Germans  than  the  humorous 
and  true  accounts  of  the  Zeppelin  raids  which  were 
eventually  allowed  to  appear  in  the  English  newspapers. 

The  Germans  have  now  facts  as  to  the  actual  dam- 
age done  in  England.  They  know  that  the  British  pub- 
lic receive  the  Zeppelins  with  excellent  aircraft  and 
gun-fire.  They  know  that  anti-aircraft  preparations 
are  likely  to  increase  rather  than  decrease,  and  while, 
for  the  sake  of  saving  the  nation's  "face,"  it  will  be 
necessary  that  Zeppelins  be  further  used,  the  people 
who  are  directing  the  war  know  that,  so  far  as  land 
warfare  is  concerned,  they  are  not  a  factor. 

There  have  been  more  mishaps  than  have  been  pub- 
lished; more  wounded  and  damaged  Zeppelins  than  the 
Germans  have  ever  announced.  I  was  informed  that 
the  overhauling  and  repair  of  many  Zeppelins  after  a 
successful  or  unsuccessful  raid  was  a  matter,  not  of 
days,  but  of  weeks.  There  was  great  difficulty  in  ob- 
taining crews.  Most  of  them  are  sailors,  as  are  the 


IN  THE  DEEPENING  SHADOW      303 

officers.  There  have  been  suppressed  mutinies  in  con- 
nection with  the  manning  of  the  Zeppelins. 

Count  Zeppelin,  who,  up  to  a  year  ago,  was  a  na- 
tional hero,  is  already  c^garded  by  a  large  section  of 
the  population  as  a  failure.  The  very  house  servants 
who  subscribed  their  pfennigs  and  marks  in  the  early 
days  to  help  conduct  his  experiments  now  no  longer 
speak  of  him  with  respect.  They  have  transferred  their 
admiration  to  Hindenburg  and  the  submarines. 

The  majority  of  Germans  of  all  classes  believe  what 
they  are  officially  instructed  to  believe,  no  more,  no 
less.  The  overmastering  self-hypnotism  which  leads 
the  present-day  German  to  believe  that  black  is  white, 
if  it  adds  to  his  self-satisfaction,  is  one  of  the  most 
startling  phenomena  of  history.  But  what  of  Ballin, 
Heineken,  von  Gwinner,  Gutmann,  Thyssen,  Rathenau, 
and  other  captains  of  industry  and  finance  ?  Some  of 
them  have  expressed  opinions  in  interviews,  but  what 
do  they  really  think?  I  am  not  going  to  indulge  in 
any  guesswork  on  this  matter.  I  am  simply  going  to 
disclose  some  important  statements  made  at  a  secret 
meeting  attended  by  many  of  the  business  directors  of 
the  German  Empire.  The  meeting  was  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discussing  actual  conditions  in  a  straightfor- 
ward manner,  therefore  no  member  of  the  Press,  Ger- 
man or  foreign,  was  present. 

In  striking  contrast  with  custom  when  the  war  is 
discussed,  nothing  was  said  of  Kultur,  of  German  in- 
nocence or  enemy  guilt,  of  an  early  and  victorious 
peace,  of  British  warships  hiding  always  in  safety,  or 
of  the  omniscience  and  infallibility  of  the  Supreme 
Military  Command. 


304     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

The  little  circle  of  Germans  who  have  displayed  such 
brilliant  organising  ability  in  commerce  and  industry 
are  practical  men,  who  look  at  the  war  and  the  days  to 
follow  the  war  in  the  cold  light  of  debit  and  credit. 
This  being  the  case,  the  honest  opinions  expressed  by 
Arthur  von  Gwinner,  President  of  the  Deutsche  Bank, 
are  worthy  of  serious  consideration.  His  chief  points 
were : —  , 

1.  The  belief  cherished  by  the  mass  of  the  nation 
that  a  Central  Europe  Economic  Alliance  will  amply 
compensate  us  for  any  shortcomings  elsewhere,  and  en- 
able us  to  sit  back  and  snap  our  fingers  at  the  rest  of  the 
world  is  too  absurd  to  be  entertained  by  serious  men. 
Our  trade,  import  and  export,  with  Austria-Hungary 
was  as  great  as  it  could  be  for  many  years  to  come,  and 
it  was  only  a  small  part  of  our  total  trade.     After  the 
war,  as  before,  the  bulk  of  our  trade  must  be  with  coun- 
tries now  neutral  or  enemy,  and  we  must  seriously  con- 
sider how  to  hold  and  add  to  this  trade  in  the  future. 

2.  The  solution  of  the  labour  problem  will  be  vital 
in  the  work  of  reconstruction.     We  must  make  every 
provision  in  order  to  forge  rapidly  ahead  immediately 
after  the  close  of  the  war. 

No  German,  except  for  necessary  reasons  of  State, 
should  ~be  allowed  to  leave  the  country  for  a  number  of 
years  after  the  war. 

3.  Before  the  war  2,000,000  Russians  came  to  us 
every  year  at  harvest  time.     These  must  continue  to 
come. 

4.  We  have  done  wonderful  work  in  scientific  agri- 
culture, but  the  limit  of  productivity  of  the  soil  has 
undoubtedly  been  reached. 


IN  THE  DEEPENING  SHADOW      305 

5.  Do  not  place  too  much  hope  in  an  early  war  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Japan. 

6.  There  is  great  rejoicing  over  the  sinking  of  enemy 
ships.     It  should  also  be  remembered,  however,  that 
we  are  not  paying  any  dividends  at  present. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  statements  of 
Herr  von  G winner  and  from  various  channels  of  re- 
liable information  which  I  made  use  of  in  Germany, 
I  found  a  serious  view  taken  of  these  and  other  topics, 
of  which  the  great  body  of  Germans  are  quite  un- 
aware. 

Take  the  labour  problem,  for  example.  For  years 
Germany  has  recognised  the  necessity  of  a  rapid  in- 
crease of  population,  if  a  nation  is  to  smash  rivals  in 
industry  and  war.  Not  for  a  moment  during  this 
struggle  has  Germany  lost  sight  of  this  fact.  Many 
times  have  I  heard  in  the  Fatherland  that  the  assurance 
of  milk  to  children  is  not  entirely  for  sentimental  but 
also  for  practical  reasons.  Official  attempts  are  being 
made  at  present  to  increase  the  population  in  ways 
which  cannot  be  discussed  in  this  book.  "You  get  your- 
self born  and  the  State  does  all  the  rest"  was  an  ac- 
curate analysis  of  Germany  before  the  war;  but  the 
State  looks  after  everything  now. 

When  men  go  home  on  leave  from  the  army,  mar- 
ried or  single,  they  are  instructed  in  their  duty  of  d-ing 
their  part  to  increase  the  population  so  that  Germany 
will  have  plenty  of  colonists  for  the  Balkans,  Turkey 
and  Asia  in  the  great  economic  development  of  those 
regions.  To  impress  this  they  argue  that  Germany 
and  France  had  nearly  the  same  number  of  inhabitants 
in  1870.  "See  the  difference  to-day,"  says  the  German. 


306     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

"This  difference  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  our  greatly 
superior  strength." 

Working  girls  in  Dresden  have  not  only  been  en- 
couraged but  quietly  advised  to  serve  the  State  "by  en- 
abling Deutschland  to  achieve  the  high  place  in  the 
world  which  God  marked  out  for  it,  which  can  only  be 
done  if  there  are  a  sufficient  number  of  Germans  to 
make  their  influence  felt  in  the  world."  They  have 
tten  told  not  to  worry,  that  the  State  will  provide  for 
the  offspring.  In  fact,  societies  of  godfathers  and  god- 
mothers are  growing  all  over  Germany.  They  do  not 
necessarily  have  to  bring  up  the  child  in  their  own 
home ;  they  can  pay  for  its  maintenance.  Thus  the  rich 
woman  who  does  not  care  to  have  many  children  her- 
self is  made  to  feel  in  ultra-scientific  Germany  that  she 
should  help  her  poorer  sister. 

The  Germans  treat  the  matter  very  lightly.  In 
Bremen,  for  example,  where  the  quartering  of  Land- 
stiirmers  (the  oldest  Germans  called  to  military  service) 
among  the  people  resulted  in  a  large  batch  of  illegiti- 
mate children,  I  found  it  the  custom,  even  in  mixed  so- 
ciety of  the  higher  circles,  to  refer  to  them  jokingly  as 
"young  Landstiirmers." 

A  serious  consideration  of  what  Germany,  or  any 
other  belligerent,  will  do  after  the  war  is  usually  of 
little  value,  as  conditions  after  the  war  depend  upon 
what  is  done  during  the  war.  The  amount  of  freedom 
which  the  German  people  attain  in  the  next  few  years 
is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  amount  of  thrashing  ad- 
ministered to  their  country  by  the  Allies.  Perhaps 
they  will  have  something  to  say  about  the  frontier  regu- 


IN  THE  DEEPENING  SHADOW      307 

lations  of  Germany ;  but  assuming  that  the  training  of 
centuries  will  prevent  their  hastily  casting  aside  their 
docility,  it  is  extremely  probable  that  few,  if  any,  Ger- 
mans will  be  allowed  to  leave  Germany  during  the  first 
years  of  reconstruction. 

This  will  disappoint  several  million  Germans.  De- 
spite the  snarling  rage  displayed  everywhere  in  the 
Fatherland,  except  in  diplomatic  circles,  against  the 
United  States,  I  heard  an  ever-increasing  number  of 
malcontents  declare  that,  immediately  after  the  close 
of  war,  they  would  go  to  the  States  to  escape  the  bur- 
den of  taxation.  One  hears  two  words — Friede  (peace) 
and  Essen  (food) — constantly.  The  third  word  I 
should  add  is  Steuern  (taxes).  It  is  all  very  well  to 
sit  by  some  neutral  fireside  reading  Goethe  or  Schopen- 
hauer, while  listening  to  the  Meistersinger  von  Nurn- 
berg,  or  the  "Melody  in  F,"  and  lull  yourself  into  the 
belief  that  the  Germans  are  a  race  of  idealists.  This 
touch  is  used  to  a  considerable  extent  in  German  propa- 
ganda. Any  one  familiar,  however,  with  conditions  in 
modern  Germany  knows  that  Germans  are  ultra-ma- 
terialistic. 

I  have  heard  them  talk  of  the  cost  of  the  war  from 
the  very  beginning.  They  gloated  over  the  sweeping 
indemnities  they  would  exact.  After  they  realised  the 
possibilities  of  State-organised  scientific  burglary  in 
Belgium  they  were  beside  themselves  in  joyful  antici- 
pation of  what  Paris,  London,  and  a  score  of  other 
cities  would  yield.  When  the  war  became  a  temporary 
stalemate,  I  heard  it  said,  particularly  by  army  officers, 
that  Germany  was  taking  no  chances  with  the  future, 
but  was  exacting  indemnities  now  from  the  occupied 


308     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

districts.  When  taxes  rose  and  food  shortage  increased, 
the  possibility  that  the  Germans  themselves  would  have 
to  pay  some  of  their  own  costs  of  the  war  in  various 
forms  of  taxation  determined  a  rapidly  growing  num- 
ber to  seeek  a  way  out  by  emigrating  at  the  first  op- 
portunity. 

As  Herr  Ballin  said,  "The  world  will  find  us  as 
strongly  organised  for  peace  as  we  were  organised  for 
war."  The  labour  problem,  however,  not  only  now, 
but  for  the  days  of  reconstruction,  is  viewed  very  seri- 
ously, how  seriously  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
there  is  so  much  apprehension  that  Russia  may  refuse 
to  allow  her  workers  to  go  to  Germany  for  some  years 
after  the  war,  that  nearly  everyone  at  the  secret  con- 
ference mentioned  above  was  in  favour  of  making  con- 
cessions at  the  peace  conference,  should  Russia  insist. 
Indeed  one  Rhinelander  was  of  the  opinion  that  it 
would  be  worth  while  giving  up  Courland  to  get  an  un- 
limited supply  of  labour. 

In  the  meantime  the  Germans  have  not  been  idle  m 
other  directions.  Until  Hindenburg  called  up  his  im- 
mense levies  in  the  late  summer,  Germany  exported 
steel  building  materials  and  coal  to  contiguous  neutral 
countries,  but  she  can  no  longer  do  this.  Nevertheless, 
she  did  make  elaborate  preparations  to  "dump"  into 
Russia  on  a  colossal  scale  immediately  after  the  resump- 
tion of  intercourse.  Immense  supplies  of  farming  im- 
plements and  other  articles  of  steel  have  been  stored  in 
the  Rhineland,  Westphalia,  and  Silesia,  ready  for  im- 
mediate shipment  to  Russia,  thus  enabling  Germany 
to  get  ahead  of  all  rivals  in  this  field. 

Germans  also  derive  comfort  from  the  fact  that  their 


IN  THE  DEEPENING  SHADOW      309 

ships  will  be  ready  at  once  to  carry  cargoes  and  pas- 
sengers, while  so  many  of  those  of  the  Allies  will  be 
used  for  the  transport  of  troops  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  and  must  then  refit. 

With  such  plans  for  "getting  the  jump"  on  com- 
petitors it  is  only  natural  that  I  saw  more  and  more  ir- 
ritability on  the  part  of  the  financial  men  with  each 
month  of  the  war  after  last  April. 

Von  Gwinner's  remark  about  the  improbability  of 
war  between  Japan  and  the  United  States  in  the  near 
future  would,  if  known  to  the  German  people,  cause 
still  another  keen  disappointment,  since  one  of  their 
solaces  has  been  the  thought  that  they  would  soon  have 
an  opportunity  of  reaping  a  munition  harvest  them- 
selves. 

When  Germany  tried  to  make  a  separate  peace  with 
Russia,  Japan  was  also  approached — how  far,  I  do  not 
know.  The  Wilhelmstrasse  still  maintains  a  Japanese 
department,  and  any  possible  thread,  however  light, 
which  may  be  twisted  from  a  Tokyo  newspaper  to 
show  that  perhaps  Japan  may  be  won  over,  is  pounced 
upon  most  eagerly.  Germany,  Japan,  and  Russia  was 
the  combination  whispered  in  Berlin  at  the  time  of  the 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  separate  the  Allies. 

Absolute  governments  have  certain  advantages  in 
war.  They  have  also  disadvantages.  When  things  are 
not  running  smoothly  in  Germany  the  Germans  worry 
more  than  do  the  English  when  things  are  not  going 
well  in  England.  When  the  German  leaders  began  to 
disagree  as  to  the  best  methods  to  conduct  the  war,  the 
effect  upon  the  people  was  demoralising.  Only  their 
gullibility  saved  them  from  complete  dismay. 


3  io    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Month  after  month  the  great  struggle  raged,  under 
the  surface  for  the  most  part,  but  occasionally  boiling 
over.  Would  it  be  to  the  best  interests  of  Germany  to 
go  the  limit  with  the  submarines  or  not  ?  Not  once  did 
I  hear  the  subject  discussed  on  ethical  grounds.  Some 
remarks  made  to  me  by  Doctor  Stresemann,  one  of  the 
powerful  National  Liberals  behind  the  mammoth  indus- 
trial trust  in  Germany,  and  the  most  violent  apostle 
of  frightfulness  in  the  Reichstag,  aptly  express  the  sen- 
timent in  favour  of  unrestricted  submarine  warfare. 
He  and  the  rest  of  the  men  behind  Tirpitz  had  fought 
and  lost  in  the  three  Committee  Assemblies  called  to 
discuss  U-boat  policy  in  1916. 

As  the  day  set  for  the  September  meeting  of  the 
Reichstag  approached  I  noticed  that  Herr  Stresemann 
was  growing  more  and  more  excited.  "This  war  is 
lasting  too  long,"  he  declared  to  me  in  great  agitation. 
"The  Kaiser's  most  glaring  fault  is  that  of  trying  to 
fight  Great  Britain  with  one  foot  in  the  grave  of  chiv- 
alry. If  the  Chancellor  continues  to  sway  him,  we  will 
wreck  the  Chancellor  at  all  costs.  The  only  way  to  win 
this  war  is  to  publish  again,  and  this  time  enforce,  the 
decree  of  February  4th,  1915,  warning  all  neutrals  to 
keep  out  of  the  submarine  zone." 

"But,  according  to  the  ' Sussex  Ultimatum,'  that  will 
cause  a  break  with  the  United  States,"  I  said. 

"We  cannot  let  that  deter  us,"  he  declared.  "Britain 
is  the  keystone  of  our  enemies.  If  she  falls  they  all 
fall.  We  must  attack  her  where  she  is  vulnerable.  We 
must  starve  her  out.  As  for  America,  we  have  little  to 
fear  from  her.  In  the  first  place,  although  she  may 
break  off  diplomatic  relations,  she  will  not  enter  the 


IN  THE  DEEPENING  SHADOW      3 1 1 

war  if  we  are  careful  not  to  sink  her  ships.  As  Ameri- 
can ships  play  a  small  part  in  the  carrying  trade  to 
England,  we  can  thus  refrain  from  sinking  them — 
although  we  naturally  should  not  proclaim  this. 

"In  the  second  place,  if  America  does  declare  war 
upon  Germany,  it  would  have  little  effect.  The  war 
will  be  over  before  she  can  organise  after  the  manner  of 
Great  Britain.  Herr  Helfferich  (former  Minister  of 
Finance  and  now  Vive-Chancellor)  feels  that  we 
should  do  everything  possible  to  keep  America  out,  inas- 
much as  thereby  we  shall  be  in  a  better  position  to  con- 
clude commercial  treaties  after  the  war.  Herr  Helffe- 
rich exerted  powerful  influence  in  the  meeting  at  Great 
Headquarters  at  the  time  of  the  Sussex  Crisis.  But 
our  duty  to  ourselves  is  to  win  the  war.  If  we  starve 
out  England  we  win,  no  matter  how  many  enemies  we 
have.  If  we  fail,  another  enemy,  even  the  United 
States,  would  not  make  our  defeat  more  thorough.  We 
are  justified,  for  our  existence  is  at  stake.  The  only 
way  we  can  escape  defeat  is  by  a  successful  U-boat  war 
against  England.  That  would  change  defeat  into  over- 
whelming victory.  I  am  absolutely  confident;  that  is 
why  the  slow  methods  of  the  Chancellor  make  me  so 
angry.  It  will  take  at  least  half  a  year  to  bring  Eng- 
land to  her  knees,  and  with  our  increased  privations  he 
may  wait  too  long.  But  we  shall  compel  him ;  we  shall 
compel  him." 

Herr  Stresemann  later  requested  me  not  to  publish 
these  statements — at  least,  not  until  a  decision  had  been 
reached.  I  did,  however,  lay  the  matter  before  the 
American  Embassy  in  London  as  soon  as  I  arrived  in 
England,  since  my  investigations  in  Germany  left  no 


3 1 2     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

doubt  in  my  mind  that  she  would  play  two  great  cards 
— one,  to  work  for  peace  through  negotiation ;  the  other, 
the  last  desperate  recourse  to  the  submarine. 

As  I  write  (January  21st,  1917)  I  am  convinced 
that  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  until  Germany  is 
reduced  to  this  last  desperate  resort.  The  men  who  will 
decide  that  time  will  be  Hindenburg  and  Batocki.  The 
successful  siege  of  Germany  is  a  stupendous  though  not 
impossible  task. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  human  system  is  a  very 
elastic  piece  of  mechanism,  and  modern  man,  far  from 
being  the  degenerate  which  some  admirers  of  cave-man 
hardihood  have  pictured  him,  is  able  to  undergo  a 
tremendous  amount  of  privation.  Besieged  cities  have 
nearly  always  held  out  longer  than  the  besiegers  ex- 
pected. In  the  besieged  city  the  civilian  population 
is  for  the  most  part  a  drag  on  the  military,  but  in  be- 
sieged Germany  the  civilian  population,  reinforced  by 
slave  labour  from  Belgium,  France  and  Poland,  con- 
tinues working  at  high  pressure  in  order  to  enable  the 
military  to  keep  the  field.  Fat  is  the  vital  factor.  The 
more  munitions  Germany  heaps  up  the  more  fat  she 
must  use  for  this  purpose,  and  the  less  she  will  have  for 
the  civil  population,  with  a  consequent  diminution  of 
their  output  of  work.  Germany  simply  cannot  burn 
the  candle  at  both  ends.  It  is  my  personal  opinion  that 
Verdun  marks  the  supreme  culmination  of  German 
military  offensive  in  the  West,  and  the  West  is  the 
decisive  theatre  of  war.  If  that  is  Hindenburg's 
opinion,  then  he  realises  that  another  colossal  German 
offensive  in  the  West  would  not  bring  a  victorious 
peace.  There  remains  only  the  alternative  of  building 


IN  THE  DEEPENING  SHADOW      3 '3 

up  a  defensive  against  the  coming  Allied  attacks — an 
alternative  depending  for  its  success  upon  (sufficient 
food  for  the  mass  of  the  people.  Thus  the  U-boat  de- 
cision clearly  rests  upon  the  Chief  of  Staff  and  the  Food 
Dictator,  since  their  advice  to  the  Imperial  Chancellor 
and  the  All  Highest  War  Lord  must  be  determinative. 

When  the  day  comes  for  Germany  to  proclaim  to  the 
world  that  she  will  sink  at  sight  all  ships  going  to  and 
from  the  ports  of  her  enemies,  that  day  will  be  one  of 
the  great  moments  of  history.  Germany's  last  card  will 
be  on  the  table.  It  will  be  war  to  the  knife.  Either 
she  will  starve  Great  Britain  or  Great  Britain  will 
starve  her. 

These  are  problems  for  the  leaders,  who  have  the 
further  task  of  keeping  the  population  hopeful  on  an 
alarmingly  decreasing  diet.  Superficially,  or  until  you 
want  something  to  eat,  or  a  ride  in  a  taxicab,  Berlin 
at  night  is  gay.  But  you  somehow  feel  that  the  gaiety 
is  forced.  London  at  first  sight  is  appallingly  gloomy 
is  the  evening,  and  foreigners  hardly  care  to  leave 
their  hotels.  But  I  find  that  behind  the  gloom  and  the 
darkness  there  is  plenty  of  spontaneous  merriment  at 
the  theatres  and  other  places  of  entertainment.  There 
is  plenty  of  food,  little  peace  talk,  and  quiet  confidence. 

Across  the  North  Sea,  however,  great  efforts  are 
made  by  the  German  Government  to  keep  up  the  spirits 
of  the  people.  No  public  entertainer  need  go  to  the 
war  at  all,  and  the  opera  is  carried  on  exactly  as  in 
peace  time,  though  I  confess  that  my  material  soul 
found  it  difficult  to  enjoy  Tristan  on  a  long  and  mono- 
tonous diet  of  sardines,  potatoes.,  pheese  f(nd  fresh- 
water fish — chiefly  pike  and  carp.  A  humorous 


3  H     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

American  friend  used  to  laugh  at  the  situation — the 
brilliantly  dressed  house,  officers  ,!m  their  extremely 
handsome  grey  uniforms,  ladies,  some  of  them  with 
too  many  diamonds,  and — very  little  to  eat. 

At  the  slightest  military  gain  the  bells  of  victory  peal 
wildly,  and  gay  flags  colour  mile  after  mile  of  city 
streets,  flags  under  which  weary,  silent  women  crawl 
in  long  lines  to  the  shops  where  food  is  sold.  A  bewil- 
dering spectacle  is  this  crawling  through  victory  after 
victory  ever  nearer  to  defeat. 

Early  in  the  war  a  Norwegian  packer,  who  had  not 
Tiad  much  demand  for  his  sardines  in  Germany,  put 
the  picture  of  Hindenburg  on  the  tins  and  christened 
them  the  "Hindenburg  Sardines."  When  he  changed 
the  trade-mark  the  Germans  bought  them  as  fast  as  he 
could  supply  them — not  because  they  were  short  of  food 
at  that  time,  but  through  the  magic  of  a  name.  To-day 
all  that  is  changed.  Norwegians  no  longer  have  to  flat- 
ter the  Germans,  who  are  anxious  to  buy  anything  in 
the  way  of  food.  They  flood  Germany  now  with  im- 
punity with  sardines  whose  merits  are  extolled  in  the 
hated  English  language,  sardines  which  had  originally 
been  intended  for  Britain  or  America,  but  which  are 
now  eagerly  snapped  up  at  four  and  five  times  the  peace 
price  by  people  who  invariably  bid  one  another  good- 
bye with  "Gott  strafe  England"  I  saw  the  gem  of  the 
collection  in  a  Friedrichstrasse  window.  It  was  en- 
titled: "Our  Allies  Brand,"  on  a  bright  label  which 
displayed  the  flags  of  Great  Britain,  France,  Russia, 
Italy,  Belgium  and  Japan. 

In  Germany  you  feel  that  the  drama  of  the  battle- 
field has  changed  to  the  drama  of  the  larder.  Hope  and 


IN  THE  DEEPENING  SHADOW      315 

despair  succeed  one  another  in  the  determination  to 
hold  out  economically  while  soldier  and  sailor  convince 
the  world  that  Germany  cannot  be  beaten.  People 
laugh  at  the  blockade,  sneer  at  the  blockade  and  curse 
the  blockade  in  the  same  breath.  A  headline  of  victory, 
a  mention  of  the  army,  the  army  they  love,  and  they 
boast  again.  Then  a  place  in  the  food  line,  or  a  seat  at 
table,  and  they  whine  at  the  long  war  and  rage  against 
"British  treachery."  Like  a  cork  tossing  on  the  waves 
— such  is  the  spirit  of  Germany. 

The  majority  struggle  on  in  the  distorted  belief  that 
Germany  was  forced  to  defend  herself  from  attack 
planned  by  Great  Britain,  while  the  minority  are  kept 
in  check  by  armed  patrols  and  "preventive  arrest." 

The  spirit  of  "all  for  the  Fatherland"  is  yielding  to 
the  spirit  of  self-preservation  of  the  individual.  Every- 
where one  sees  evidence  of  this.  The  cry  of  a  little  girl 
running  out  of  a  meat  shop  in  Friedenau,  an  excellent 
quarter  of  Berlin,  brought  me  in  to  find  a  woman,  worn 
out  with  grief  over  the  loss  of  her  son  and  the  long  wait- 
ing in  the  queue  for  food,  lying  on  the  floor  in  a  semi- 
conscious condition.  It  is  the  custom  to  admit  five  or 
six  people  at  a  time.  I  was  at  first  surprised  that  no- 
body in  the  line  outside  had  stirred  at  the  appeal  of  the 
child,  but  I  need  not  have  expected  individual  initiative 
even  under  the  most  extenuating  circumstances  from 
people  so  slavishly  disciplined  that  they  would  stolidly 
wait  their  turn.  But  the  four  women  inside — why  did 
they  not  help  the  woman  ?  The  spirit  of  self-preserva- 
tion must  be  the  answer.  For  them  the  main  event  of 
the  day  was  to  secure  the  half-pound  of  meat  which 
would  last  them  for  a  week.  They  simply  would  not 


3 1 6     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

be  turned  from  that  one  objective  until  it^vas  reached. 
And  the  soldiers  passing  through  Berlin !  I  saw  some 
my  last  afternoon  in  Berlin,  loaded  with  their  kit, 
marching  silently  down  Unter  den  Linden  to  the  troop 
trains,  where  a  few  relatives  would  tearfully  bid  them 
good-bye.  There  was  not  a  sound  in  their  ranks — 
only  the  dull  thud  of  their  heavy  marching  boots.  They 
didn't  sing  nor  even  speak.  The  passers-by  buttoned 
their  coats  more  tightly  against  the  chill  wind  and 
hurried  on  their  several  ways,  with  never  a  thought  or  a 
look  for  the  men  in  field-grey,  moving,  many  of  them 
for  the  last  time,  through  the  streets  of  the  capital. 
The  old  man  who  angered  the  war-mad  throng  before 
the  Schloss  on  August  1st,  1914,  with  his  discordant 
croak  of  "War  is  a  serious  business,  young  man,"  lives 
in  the  spirit  of  to-day.  And  he  did  not  have  to  go  to 
the  mountain! 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

ACROSS  THE  NORTH  SEA 

AFTER  my  last  exit  from  Germany  into  Holland  I 
was  confronted  by  a  new  problem.  I  had  found 
going  to  England  very  simple  on  my  previous  war-time 
crossings.  Now,  however,  there  were  two  obstacles  in 
my  path — first,  to  secure  permission  to  board  a  vessel 
bound  for  England;  secondly,  to  make  the  actual  pas- 
sage safely. 

The  passport  difficulty  was  the  first  to  overcome. 
The  passport  with  which  I  had  come  to  Europe  before 
the  war,  and  which  had  been  covered  with  frontier 
visees,  secret  service  permissions  and  military  permis- 
sions, from  the  Alps  to  the  White  Sea  and  from  the 
Thames  to  the  Black  Sea,  had  been  cancelled  in  Wash- 
ington at  my  request  during  my  brief  visit  home  in  the 
autumn  of  1915.  On  my  last  passport  I  had  limited 
the  countries  which  I  intended  to  visit  to  Germany 
and  Austria-Hungary.  I  purposed  adding  to  this  list 
as  I  had  done  on  my  old  passport,  but  subsequent  Amer- 
ican regulations,  aimed  at  restricting  travellers  to  one 
set  of  belligerents,  prevented  that. 

I  was  not  only  anxious  to  return  to  London  to  con- 
tinue my  work  with  Lord  Northcliffe  on  The  Times  and 
the  Daily  Mail,  but  I  was  encouraged  by  two  American 
officials  in  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  to  write  the 
truth  about  Germany — a  feat  quite  impossible,  as  one 

317 


3 1 8     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

of  them  said  to  me,  for  a  correspondent  remaining  in 
the  zone  of  the  Central  Powers.  The  official  in  Austria- 
Hungary  had  become  righteously  indignant  at  the  sneer- 
ing German  remarks  about  how  they  could  "play  with 
Washington  in  the  U-boat  question."  He  asked  me  to 
learn  all  possible  news  of  submarines.  The  official  in 
Germany  had  been  impressed  by  my  investigations 
among  the  men  behind  Tirpitz,  men  who  never  for  a 
moment  ceased  in  their  efforts  to  turn  on  frightfulness 
m  full  force.  When  I  mentioned  the  new  American 
passport  regulations  which  would  delay  me  getting  to 
England,  he  said :  "In  Holland  fix  it  with  the  British. 
I  hope  you  will  do  some  good  with  all  this  information, 
for  you  have  the  big  scoop  of  the  day.  Now  is  the 
time." 

I  tried  to  "fix  it"  with  the  British  authorities  in 
Rotterdam,  but  as  they  did  not  know  me  my  progress 
was  slow  for  a  few  days.  Then  I  went  to  Amsterdam 
to  my  old  newspaper  friend,  Charles  Tower,  correspon- 
dent for  the  Daily  Mail,  a  man  of  broad  experience,  and 
ir  close  touch  with  affairs  in  Holland,  a  country  which 
war  journalists  have  grown  to  look  upon  as  an  im- 
portant link  in  the  news  chain  between  Germany  and 
England.  I  realised  that  this  move  might  confirm  the 
suspicions  of  von  Kiihlmann's  spies  who  were  on  my 
trail.  However,  the  free  air  of  Holland  was  making 
me  a  little  incautious,  a  little  over-confident. 

"There  is  the  man  who  is  following  you,"  said  Tower, 
as  we  stepped  in  the  evening  from  his  home  on  to  the 
brightly  lighted  street  and  made  our  way  along  the  edge 
of  the  canals.  The  tall,  round-shouldered  German 
shadowed  us  through  the  crowded  streets  to  the  Amstel 


ACROSS  THE  NORTH  SEA          319 

Hotel.  Then  we  shadowed  him,  while  he  telephoned  for 
help  which  came  in  the  form  of  a  persistent  Hollander, 
who  insisted  in  sitting  at  the  table  next  to  us,  although 
it  had  just  been  vacated  by  diners  and  needed  re-arrang- 
ing, whereas  many  other  tables  were  entirely  free. 

That  is  a  sample  of  the  manner  in  which  we  were 
systematically  spied  upon.  In  order  to  make  arrange- 
ments it  was  necessary  for  us  to  travel  together  so  that 
we  could  talk,  as  our  time  was  limited.  It  was  abso- 
lutely impossible  for  us  to  go  into  a  restaurant  or  get 
into  a  railway  compartment  without  having  a  satellite 
at  our  elbow.  They  were  very  persistent  and  very 
thorough;  but  the  system  in  Holland  has  the  same 
glaring  flaw  that  is  common  to  the  German  system 
everywhere — too  much  system  and  not  sufficient  clever- 
ness in  the  individual. 

Von  Kiihlmann,  the  German  Minister,  certainly  does 
not  lack  men.  We  encountered  them  everywhere.  Travel- 
ling first  class  gives  one  more  or  less  privacy  in  Holland, 
so  that  it  was  decidedly  irritating  to  have  a  listener 
make  for  our  compartment,  while  adjoining  first-class 
compartments  were  entirely  empty.  If  the  intrusion 
resulted  in  our  going  to  another  compartment,  an  ever- 
ready  Kamerad  would  quickly  join  us. 

In  all  countries  German}7  considers  certain  telephone 
connections  to  be  of  great  strategic  importance.  It  is 
practically  impossible  to  be  connected  with  the  British 
Consulate  at  Kotterdam  until  the  "interpreter"  is  put 
on.  Mr.  Tower  experiences  the  same  annoyance.  In- 
deed, the  Germans  are  extremely  attentive  to  him. 
Although  he  needs  only  a  small  flat,  since  he  lives  alone, 
he  has  to  protect  himself  by  hiring  the  floor  above  and 


320    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

the  floor  below,  as  the  Germans  are  continually  trying 
to  get  rooms  as  close  to  him  as  possible.  The  German 
Government  has  for  years  been  pouring  out  money  like 
water  to  conquer  the  world.  If  I  were  a  German 
taxpayer  I  should  feel  much  like  the  man  who 
discovers  that  the  Florida  land  which  some  smooth- 
talking  combination  travelling  book-agent  and  real 
estate  agent  persuaded  him  to  buy  is  several  feet  under 
water.  , 

Tower  and  the  British  authorities  finally  obtained 
permission  for  me  to  land  in  England,  but  they  insisted 
that  it  would  be  worse  than  useless  for  me  to  attempt 
to  go  on  a  Dutch  steamer,  as  I  should  be  taken  off. 
Within  a  week  two  of  these  steamers  had  been  con- 
ducted by  the  Germans  to  Zeebrugge. 

After  I  had  left  word  that  I  wished  to  go  at  the  first 
possible  opportunity,  and  had  received  some  further 
instructions,  Tower  and  I  left  for  Rotterdam  on  our 
last  train  ride  together  in  Holland.  The  little  man 
with  the  book  who  sat  beside  us  in  the  tram  to  the 
Central  station  turned  us  over  to  a  big  man  with 
whitish  eyebrows  and  reddish  hair  and  moustache,  who 
followed  us  into  a  second-class  compartment,  which  we 
had  entered  purposely,  although  we  had  bought  first- 
class  tickets.  We  then  pretended  to  discover  our  mis- 
take and  changed  to  a  vacant  first-class  compartment. 
Through  some  rare  oversight  there  was  no  Kamerad 
on  hand,  whereupon  the  man  with  the  reddish  hair  fol- 
lowed us  with  the  pathetically  feeble  explanation  that 
he,  too,  had  made  the  same  mistake. 

When  Tower  and  I  had  talked  ad  nauseam  on  such 
fiercely  neutral  subjects  as  Dutch  cheese  and  Swiss 


ACROSS  THE  NORTH  SEA          321 

scenery,  I  felt  an  impelling  desire  to  "get  even"  with' 
the  intruder,  and  began  to  complain  to  Tower  of  thn 
injustice  of  the  British  not  allowing  me  to  return  to 
America  via  England,  which  I  wished  to  see  for  a  few 
days.  He  took  the  cue  readily,  and  accused  me  of  being 
"fed-up  like  all  neutral  correspondents  in  Berlin."  He 
frankly  expressed  his  disgust  at  the  enthusiasm  which 
he  declared  that  I  had  been  showing  for  everything 
German  since  I  met  him  in  Holland.  As  the  train 
pulled  into  the  Hague,  where  I  prepared  to  leave  him, 
he  concluded  by  saying,  "After  all,  you  ought  not  to 
blame  the  British  authorities  for  refusing  you  permis- 
sion to  go  to  England.  I  have  done  my  best  and  have 
failed ;  there  is  nothing  more  that  I  can  do.  I  did  get 
one  concession  for  you,  however.  You  will  not  be 
roughly  handled  or  otherwise  maltreated  when  your 
vessel  touches  at  Falmouth." 

I  had  to  make  a  serious  effort  to  keep  a  straight  face 
while  leaving  the  train  with  this  last  realistic  touch  of 
"British  brutality"  ringing  in  my  ears.  Tower,  I  might 
add,  had  voiced  the  extraordinary  myth  one  hears  in  the 
Fatherland  about  the  terrible  manner  in  which  the 
British  treat  passengers  on  neutral  steamers  touching 
at  their  ports. 

The  man  with  the  reddish  hair  followed  me  to  the 
office  of  the  Holland- America  Line,  where  I  made  appli- 
cation for  a  reservation  on  the  boat  which  would  sail  in 
a  week  or  ten  days.  From  there  I  went  to  a  small 
restaurant.  He  seemed  satisfied  and  left  me,  where- 
upon I  followed  him.  He  hurried  to  the  large  Cafe 
Central,  stepped  straight  to  a  table  in  the  front  room, 
which  is  level  with  the  street,  and  seated  himself  beside 


322     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

a  thin,  dark  German  of  the  intellectual  type  who  ap- 
peared to  be  awaiting  him.  From  my  seat  in  the 
shadows  of  the  higher  room  I  watched  with  amusement 
the  increasingly  puzzled  expression  on  the  face  of  the 
intellectual  German  while  the  man  with  the  reddish 
hair  unfolded  his  tale.  When  they  parted  my  curiosity 
caused  me  to  trail  after  the  thin,  dark  man.  He  went 
straight  to  the  German  Legation. 

For  two  days  I  nervously  paced  up  and  down  the 
sands  at  Scheveningen  looking  out  upon  the  North  Sea 
and  waiting  for  the  call.  It  came  one  short  drizzly 
afternoon.  The  Germans,  of  course,  knew  the  where- 
abouts of  the  vessel  on  which  I  should  embark  for  Eng- 
land, though  it  is  highly  improbable  that  they  knew 
the  sailing  time,  and  they  did  not  know  when  I 
should  go  on  it. 

I  did  everything  possible  to  throw  any  possible  spies 
off  the  trail  as  I  made  my  way  in  the  dark  to  a  lonely 
wharf  on  the  Maas  River  where  I  gave  the  password  to 
a  watchman  who  stepped  out  of  a  black  corner  near 
the  massive  gates  which  opened  to  the  pier. 

I  went  aboard  a  little  five  hundred  ton  vessel  with 
steam  up,  and  stood  near  two  other  men  on  the  narrow 
deck,  where  I  watched  in  considerable  awe  the  silent 
preparations  to  cast  away. 

A  man  stepped  out  of  the  cabin.  "I  presume,  sir, 
that  you  are  the  American  journalist,"  he  said.  He 
explained  that  he  was  the  steward.  From  the  bridge 
came  the  voice  of  the  captain,  "We  can  give  them  only 
a  fe\*  minutes  more,''*  he  said. 

Two  minutes  of  silence,  broken  only  by  the  gentle 
throbbing  of  the  engines.  Then  from  the  blackness 


ACROSS  THE  NORTH  SEA          323 

near  the  street  gate  came  the  sound  of  hurrying  feet. 
I  could  make  out  three  stumbling  figures,  apparently 
urged  along  by  a  fourth.  "Who  are  they*"  I  asked 
the  steward. 

"They  must  be  the  three  Tommies  who  escaped  from 
Germany.  Brave  lads  they  are.  A  couple  more  days 
and  we'll  have  them  back  in  England." 

"A  couple  of  days?"  I  exclaimed.  "Why,  it'a  only 
eight  hours  to  the  Thames  estuary,  isn't  it  ?" 

"Eight  hours  in  peace  time;  and  eight  hours  for 
Dutch  'lioats  now — when  the  Germans  don't  kidnap 
them  away  to  Zeebrugge.  But  the  course  to  the  Thames 
is  not  our  course.  The  old  fourteen-hour  trip  to  Hull 
often  takes  us  forty  now.  Every  passage  is  different, 
too.  It  isn't  only  on  the  sea  that  the  Germans  try  to 
bother  us ;  they  also  keep  after  us  when  we  are  in  port 
here.  Only  yesterday  the  Dutch  inspectors  did  us  a 
good  turn  by  arresting  five  spies  monkeying  around  the 
boat — three  Germans  and  two  Dutchmen." 

The  little  vessel  was  headed  into  the  stream  now, 
the  three  Tommies  had  gone  inside,  followed  a  little 
later  by  the  two  men  who  were  on  the  deck  when  I 
arrived,  men  who  talked  French.  When  the  steward 
left  I  was  alone  on  the  deck. 

I  watched  the  receding  lights  of  Rotterdam  till  they 
flickered  out  in  the  distance.  The  night  was  misty  and 
too  dark  to  make  out  anything  on  shore.  My  thoughts 
went  back  to  the  last  time,  nearly  a  year  before,  when 
I  had  been  on  that  river.  I  saw  it  then,  in  flood  of 
moonlight  as  I  stepped  on  the  boat  deck  of  the  giant 
liner  Rotterdam.  The  soft  strains  of  a  waltz  floated  up 
from  the  music  room,  adding  enchantment  to  the  wind- 


324    THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADO\V 

mills  and  low  Dutch  farmhouses  strung  out  below  the 
level  of  the  water. 

At  that  time  my  thoughts  were  full  of  my  coming 
attempt  to  get  into  Germany,  a  Germany  which  was 
smashing  through  Serbia,  and  already  jplanning  the 
colossal  onslaught  against  Verdun,  the  onslaught  which 
she  hoped  would  put  France  out  of  the  war.  I  had  got 
into  Germany,  but  for  a  long  time  I  had  almost  de- 
spaired of  getting  out;  twice  I  had  been  turned  back 
courteously  but  firmly  from  the  frontiers,  once  when  I 
tried  to  cross  to  Switzerland  and  again  when  I  started 
for  Denmark.  A  reliable  friend  had  told  me  that  the 
Wilhelmstrasse  had  suspected  me  but  could  prove 
nothing  against  me.  The  day  before  I  felt  Germany  I 
was  called  to  the  Wilhelmstrasse,  where  I  received  the 
interesting  and  somewhat  surprising  information  that 
the  greatest  good  that  a  correspondent  could  do  in  the 
world  be  to  use  his  influence  to  bring  the  United  States 
and  Germany  to  a  better  understanding.  I  made 
neither  comment  nor  promise.  I  was  well  aware  that 
the  same  Wilhelmstrasse,  while  laying  the  wires  for  an 
attempt  to  have  my  country  play  Germany's  game,  was 
sedulously  continuing  its  propaganda  of  Gott  strafe 
Amerika  among  the  German  people.  As  in  the  hatred 
sown  against  Great  Britain  hate  against  America  was 
sown  so  that  the  Government  would  have  a  united  Ger- 
many behind  them  in  case  of  war. 

I  was  at  last  out  of  Germany,  but  the  lights  of  the 
Hook  of  Holland  reminded  me  that  a  field  of  German 
activity  lay  ahead — floating  mines,  torpedoes,  subma- 
rines, and  swift  destroyers  operating  from  Ostend  and 
Zeebrugge.  They  are  challenging  British  supremacy 


ACROSS  THE  NORTH  SEA          325 

in  the  southern  part  of  the  North  Sea,  through  the 
waters  of  which  we  must  now  feel  our  way. 

We  were  off  the  Hook  running  straight  to  the  open 
sea.  The  nervous  feeling  of  planning  and  delay  of 
the  last  few  days  gave  way  now  to  the  exhilaration 
which  comes  of  activity  in  danger.  If  the  Germans 
should  get  us,  the  least  that  would  happen  to  me  would 
be  internment  until  the  end  of  the  war.  I  was  risking 
everything  on  the  skill  and  pluck  of  the  man  who  paced 
the  bridge  above  my  head,  and  on  the  efficiency  of  the 
British  patrol  of  the  seas. 

The  little  steamer  suddenly  began  to  plunge  and  roll 
with  the  waves  washing  her  decks  when  I  groped  my 
way,  hanging  to  the  rail,  to  the  snug  cabin  where  six 
men  sat  about  the  table.  The  pallor  of  their  faces  made 
them  appear  wax-like  in  the  yellow  light  of  the  smoking 
oil  lamp  which  swung  suspended  overhead.  Three  of 
them  were  British,  two  were  Belgian,  and  one  was 
French,  but  there  was  a  common  bond  which  drew  them 
together  in  a  comradeship  which  transcends  all  barriers 
of  nationality,  for  they  had  escaped  from  a  common 
enemy. 

They  welcomed  me  to  the  table.  It  is  surprising 
what  a  degree  of  intimacy  can  spring  up  between  seven 
men,  all  with  histories  behind,  and  all  with  the  same 
hope  of  getting  to  England.  They  were  only  beginning 
to  find  themselves,  they  were  indeed  still  groping  to 
pick  up  the  threads  of  reality  of  a  world  from  which 
they  had  been  snatched  two  years  before. 

The  Englishman  at  my  right,  a  corporal,  had  been 
taken  prisoner  with  a  bullet  in  his  foot  at  the  retreat 
from  Mons.  In  the  summer  of  1916  he  had  been  sent 


326 

to  a  punishment  work  camp  near  Windau  in  Oourland. 
I  had  already  heard  unsavoury  rumours  of  this  camp 
while  I  was  in  Germany,  of  men  forced  to  toil  until 
they  dropped  in  their  tracks,  of  an  Englishman  shot 
simply  because  his  guard  was  in  bad  temper.  But  the 
most  damning  arraignment  of  Windau  came  from  a 
young  Saxon  medical  student,  who  told  me  that  after 
he  had  qualified  for  a  commission  as  second  lieutenant 
he  declined  to  accept  it.  This  was  such  an  unusual 
occurrence  in  a  country  where  the  army  officer  is  a 
semi-deity  that  I  was  naturally  curious  to  know 
why. 

"I  am  loyal  to  the  Fatherland,"  the  young  Saxon 
said  to  me,  "and  I  am  not  afraid  to  die.  I  was  filled 
with  enthusiasm  to  receive  a  commission,  but  all  that 
enthusiasm  died  when  I  saw  the  way  Russian  prisoners 
were  treated  in  East  Prussia  and  at  Windau.  I  saw 
them  stripped  to  the  waist  under  orders  from  the  camp 
officers,  tied  to  trees  and  lashed  until  the  blood  flowed. 
When  I  saw  one  prisoner,  weak  from  underfeeding,  cut 
with  switches  until  he  died  in  the  presence  of  a  Berlin 
captain,  my  mind  was  made  up.  My  country  has  gone 
too  far  in  making  the  army  officer  supreme.  I  now 
could  see  the  full  significance  of  Zabern,  a  significance 
which  I  could  not  realise  at  the  time.  During  the  first 
part  of  the  war  I  became  angry  when  outsiders  called  us 
barbarians;  now  I  feel  sad.  I  do  not  blame  them. 
But  it  is  our  system  that  is  at  fault,  and  we  must  cor- 
rect it.  Therefore,  although  I  am  an  insignificant  indi- 
vidual and  do  not  count,  I  shall,  as  I  love  my  country, 
obey  the  dictates  of  my  conscience.  I  will  not  be  an 
officer  in  the  German  system." 


ACROSS  THE  NORTH  SEA          327 

I  thought  of  that  sincere  young  student  while  the 
boat  staggered  under  the  onslaughts  of  heavy  seas,  and 
the  corporal  told  of  how  twelve  hours'  daily  toil  on  the 
railway  in  Courland  with  rations  entirely  inadequate 
for  such  work,  finally  put  him  on  the  sick  list,  and  he 
was  sent  back  to  Miinster  in  western  Germany. 

He  was  then  sent  into  the  fields  with  two  companions 
— the  two  who  were  in  the  group  about  the  table — and 
with  them  he  seized  a  favourable  opportunity  to  escape. 
His  companions  had  tried  on  previous  occasions,  each 
separately,  but  had  been  caught,  sent  back  and  put  into 
dark  cells  and  given  only  one  meal  a  day  for  a  long  and 
weakening  period.  That  did  not  daunt  them.  The 
Germans  thought  that  men  who  had  gone  through  that 
kind  of  punishment  would  not  try  to  escape  again.  Yet 
as  soon  as  their  strength  was  restored  through  their  food 
parcels  from  home  they  were  off,  but  in  an  entirely 
different  direction. 

I  asked  one  of  them,  a  little  Welshman,  where  he  got 
the  waterproof  rubber  bag  on  the  floor  at  his  feet,  in 
which  were  all  his  earthly  belongings.  "That  used  to  be 
the  old  German  farmer's  tablecloth,"  he  said. 

To-day  in  Europe  Ithere  are  millions  of  civilians 
dressed  in  military  uniform,  which  fails  to.hide  the  fact 
that  their  main  work  of  life  is  not  that  of  the  soldier. 
But  the  three  British  soldiers  sitting  under  the  smoky 
brass  lamp  were  of  a  different  sort.  Twelve  years  of 
service  had  so  indelibly  stamped  them  as  soldiers  of 
the  King  that  the  make-shift  clothing  given  them  in 
Holland  could  not  conceal  their  calling.  Their  faces 
were  an  unnatural  white  from  the  terrible  experiences 
which  thev  had  undergone,  but,  like  the  rest  of  the 


328     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

Old  Army,  they  were  always  soldiers,  every  inch  of 
them. 

The  two  men  whom  I  had  heard  talking  French  on 
the  deck  were  Belgians.  The  one  had  been  a  soldier  at 
Liege,  and  had  managed  to  scramble  across  a  ditch 
after  his  three  days'  tramp  to  Holland,  although  the 
sentry's  bullet  whistled  uncomfortably  close.  He  said 
that  his  strongest  wish  was  to  rejoin  the  Belgian  army 
so  that  he  might  do  his  part  to  avenge  the  death  of  seven 
civilian  hostages  who  had  been  shot  before  his  eyes. 

The  other  Belgian  was  just  over  military  age,  but 
he  wanted  to  reach  England  to  volunteer.  His  nerve 
and  resource  are  certainly  all  right.  He  knew  of  the 
electrified  wire  along  the  Belgian-Dutch  frontier,  so  he 
brought  two  pieces  of  glass  with  him,  and  thus  held  the 
current  of  death  away  from  his  body  while  he  wriggled 
through  to  freedom. 

We  talked  until  after  midnight.  The  French  cap- 
tain, formerly  an  instructor  of  artillery  at  Saint  Cyr — 
the  West  Point  and  the  Sandhurst  of  France — taken 
prisoner  in  the  first  autumn  of  the  war,  was  the  last  to 
tell  his  story. 

At  Torgau,  Saxony,  in  the  heart  of  Germany,  he 
plunged  into  the  Elbe  in  the  darkness  of  night,  stemmed 
the  swift  waters,  and  on  landing,  half-drowned,  rose 
speedily  and  walked  fast  to  avoid  a  fatal  chill. 

For  twenty-nine  days  he  struggled  on  towards  liberty. 
Nothing  but  the  tremendous  impulse  of  the  desire  for 
freedom  could  have  carried  him  on  his  own  two  feet 
across  Germany,  without  money,  through  countless 
closely-policed  villages  and  great  cities,  in  a  country 
where  everyone  carries  an  identity  book  (with  which, 


ACROSS  THE  NORTH  SEA          329 

of  course,  he  was  unprovided),  without  a  friend  or 
accomplice  at  any  point  of  the  journey,  with  only  a  map 
torn  from  a  railway  time-table,  and  no  other  guides 
than  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  and  direction  posts. 

I  will  give  the  rest  of  the  man's  story  in  his  own 
words. 

"I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  my  brain  would  not 
stand  the  captivity.  I  knew  some  of  the  difficulties 
before  me,  but  I  doubt  whether  I  would  have  started  if 
I  had  known  them  all.  I  lived  on  unthreshed  wheat 
and  rye,  apples,  blackberries,  bilberries,  carrots,  turnips 
and  even  raw  potatoes.  I  did  not  taste  one  morsel  of 
cooked  food  or  anything  stronger  than  water  till  I 
arrived  in  Holland.  I  did  not  speak  one  word  to  any 
human  being.  On  two  occasions  I  marched  more  than 
thirty  miles  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  I  slept  always 
away  from  the  roadside,  and  very  often  by  day,  and  as 
far  as  possible  from  any  inhabited  house.  I  am,  as 
you  see,  weak  and  thin,  practically  only  muscle  and 
bone,  and  during  the  last  three  days,  while  waiting  in 
Holland  for  the  boat,  I  have  had  to  eat  carefully  to 
avoid  the  illness  that  would  almost  certainly  follow 
repletion." 

After  I  had  lain  down  for  a  few  hours'  sleep,  I 
thought,  as  I  had  often  thought  during  the  past  thirty 
months,  that  although  this  is  a  war  of  machinery  there 
is  plenty  of  the  human  element  in  it,  too.  People  who 
tell  only  of  the  grim-drab  aspect  of  the  great  struggle 
sometimes  forget  that  romances  just  as  fine  as  were  ever 
spun  by  Victor  Hugo  happen  around  them  every  day. 

At  dawn  I  hung  to  the  rail  of  the  wildly  tossing  ship, 
looking  at  the  horizon  from  which  the  mists  were 


33Q 

clearing.  Two  specks  began  to  grow  into  the  long  low 
black  lines  of  destroyers.  Our  most  anxious  moment 
of  the  voyage  had  come.  We  waited  for  the  shot  that 
would  show  them  to  be  German. 

"They're  all  right.  They're  the  escort  1"  came  a  voice 
on  the  winds  that  swept  over  the  bridge. 

They  grew  rapidly  large,  lashed  the  sea  white  as 
they  tore  along  one  on  each  side  of  us,  diving  through 
the  waves  when  they  could  not  ride  them.  When 
abreast  of  us  they  seemed  almost  to  stop  in  their  own 
length,  wheel  and  disappear  in  the  distance.  Somehow 
the  way  they  wheeled  reminded  me  of  the  way  the  Cos- 
sacks used  to  pull  their  horses  sharply  at  right  angles 
when  I  saw  them  covering  the  rearguard  in  the  retreat 
through  the  Bukovina. 

The  rough  soldier  at  my  side  looked  after  them,  with 
a  mist  in  his  eyes  that  did  not  come  from  the  sea.  "I'll 
be  able  to  see  my  wife  again.,"  he  said,  more  to  the  waves 
than  to  me.  "I  didn't  write,  because  I  didn't  want  to 
raise  any  false  hopes.  But  this  settles  it,  we're  certain 
to  get  home  safe  now.  I  suppose  I'll  walk  in  and  find 
her  packing  my  food  parcel  for  Germany — the  parcel 
that  kept  me  alive,  while  some  of  them  poor  Russian 
chaps  with  nobody  to  send  them  parcels  are  going  under 
every  day." 

We  ran  close  to  two  masts  sticking  up  out  of  the 
water  near  the  mouth  of  the  Humber,  the  mast  of  our 
sister  ship,  which  had  gone  down  with  all  on  board 
when  she  struck  a  mine. 

That  is  the  sort  of  sight  which  makes  some  critics 
say,  "What  is  the  matter  with  the  British  Navy?" 
Those  critics  forget  to  praise  the  mine-sweepers  that 


ACROSS  THE  NORTH  SEA          331 

we  saw  all  about,  whose  bravery,  endurance  and  noble 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice  lead  them  to  persevere  in  their 
perilous  work  and  enable  a  thousand  ships  to  reach  port 
to  one  that  goes  down. 

On  that  rough  voyage  across  the  North  Sea,  through 
the  destroyer  and  armed  motor  launch  patrol,  main- 
tained by  men  who  work  unflinchingly  in  the  shadow  of 
death,  I  felt  once  again  the  power  of  the  British  Navy. 
I  cast  my  lot  with  that  Navy  when  I  left  Holland.  I 
know  what  its  protection  means,  for  I  could  not  have 
crossed  on  a  neutral  Dutch  vessel. 

It  is  all  very  well  to  complain  about  a  few  raiders 
that  manage  in  thirty  months  to  pierce  the  British 
patrols,  or  the  hurried  dash  of  swift  destroyers  into  the 
Channel,  but  when  you  look  from  the  white  chalk  cliffs 
of  the  Kentish  coast  at  hundreds  of  vessels  passing 
safely  off  the  Downs,  when  you  sail  the  Atlantic  and 
the  Mediterranean  and  see  only  neutral  and  Allied 
ships  carrying  on  commerce,  when  you  cross  the  Rhine 
and  stand  in  food  lines  hour  after  hour  and  day  after 
day,  where  men  and  women  who  gloried  in  war  now 
whine  at  the  hardships  it  brings,  when  you  see  a  mighty 
nation  disintegrating  in  the  shadow  of  starvation,  and 
then  pass  to  another  nation,  which,  though  far  less  self- 
sustaining  in  food,  has  plenty  to  eat,  you  simply  have 
to  realise  that  there  are  silent  victories  which  are  often 
farther  reaching  than  victories  of  eclat. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

THE   LITTLE   SHIPS 

I  HAVE  been  particularly  impressed  with  two  miscon- 
ceptions which  have  existed,  and  to  some  extent 
still  exist,  not  only  in  Germany  but  in  neutral  countries. 
The  first  is  that  England  lacks  virility,  is  degenerate, 
has  had  her  day  of  greatness;  the  second,  that  in  the 
present  war  she  is  continuing  what  is  alleged  to  have 
been  her  policy  in  the  past,  namely,  pulling  the  strings 
and  reaping  the  benefit  while  other  nations  do  the  fight- 
ing. Through  personal  investigation  I  find  these  con- 
tentions so  thoroughly  refuted  that  to  develop  the  point 
would  be  to  commence  another  book  instead  of  finishing 
this  one. 

As  I  write  I  can  look  from  my  desk  in  the  Alexandra 
Hotel,  Bridlington,  on  to  the  North  Sea  where  it 
washes  the  "Frightfulness  Coast,"  for  Bridlington  lies 
between  Hull  and  Scarborough. 

I  see  trawlers  fishing  and  mine-sweeping  whenever 
I  raise  my  eyes  from  my  writing.  Their  crews  know 
that  they  work  in  the  shadow  of  death  in  what  they 
describe  in  the  dock-side  taverns  as  the  greatest  sport 
in  the  world.  Praise  of  the  big  ships  often  causes  us 
to  forget  the  little  ships.  I  admire  the  one  and  rev- 
erence the  other.  For  if  the  men  on  the  humbler  craft 
could  be  intimidated,  the  doctrine  of  Frightfulness 
would  be  justified  by  victory. 

332 


THE  LITTLE  SHIPS  333 

Intimidation  is  a  favourite  weapon  of  the  people 
across  the  Rhine.  I  was  among  them  when  their  air- 
men dropped  bombs  on  Paris  early  in  the  war.  "It  is 
really  humane,"  they  said,  "for  it  will  frighten  the 
civilian  population  into  imploring  the  military  to  yield 
to  us  to  save  them."  They  thought  the  same  of  Zep- 
pelin raids  over  England.  Intimidation  was  their  guid- 
ing star  in  Belgium.  The  first  I  heard  of  the  massacre 
of  Louvain  was  from  one  of  its  perpetrators. 

Intimidation  was  again  their  weapon  in  the  case  of 
Captain  Fryatt.  "We  planned  it  well,"  snarled  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Reichstag,  incensed  over  my  expression  of 
disapproval.  "Before  we  sent  our  ships  to  intercept 
the  Brussels  we  determined  to  capture  him,  try  him 
quickly  and  execute  him.  Since  our  submarines  will 
win  the  war  we  must  protect  them  by  all  passible  means. 
You  see,  when  the  next  British  captain  thinks  of  ram- 
ming one  of  our  submarines  he  will  remember  the  fate 
of  Captain  Fryatt  and  think  twice!" 

Once  more  Germany  is  attempting  intimidation,  and 
seeking  to  make  neutrals  her  ally  in  an  attempt  to 
starve  Britain  into  defeat.  The  American  Ambassador 
is  leaving  Berlin,  hundreds  of  neutral  vessels  hug 
havens  of  safety  all  over  the  world,  but  the  women  in 
Grimsby  and  Hull  still  wave  farewell  to  the  little 
trawlers  that  slip  down  the  Humber  to  grapple  with 
death.  Freighters,  mine-sweepers,  trawlers,  and  the 
rest  of  the  unsung  toilers  of  the  sea  continue  their 
silent,  all-important  task.  They  know  that  for  them 
Germany  has  declared  the  law  off,  that  they  will  be 
slaughtered  at  sight.  They  know  also  that  despite  the 
Grand  Fleet  and  the  armies  in  France,  the  Allies  and 


334     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

their  cause  will  go  down  in  complete  defeat  if  Germany 
succeeds  in  blocking  the  routes  of  commerce.  The  in- 
surmountable obstacle  in  her  path  is  the  simple,  old- 
fashioned  dogged  courage  of  the  average  British  seaman. 

The  Germans  have  developed  to  an  astounding  degree 
the  quality  of  incorrectly  diagnosing  other  peoples,  due 
partly  to  the  unbounded  conceit  engendered  by  their 
three  wars  of  unification  and  their  rapid  increase  of 
prosperity.  Their  mental  food  in  recent  years  has  been 
war,  conquest,  disparagement  of  others  and  glorification 
of  self.  They  entered  the  struggle  thinking  only  in 
army  corps  and  siege  artillery.  Certain  undefinable 
moral  qualities,  such  as  the  last-ditch  spirit  of  the  old 
British  Army  on  the  Yser,  did  not  come  within  their 
scope  of  reckoning. 

British  illusions  of  the  early  part  of  the  war  are 
gone.  The  average  Briton  fully  appreciates  Germany's 
gigantic  strength,  and  he  coldly  realises  that  as  condi- 
tions are  at  present,  his  country  must  supply  most  of 
the  driving  force — men,  guns,  and  shells — to  break  it. 
He  thinks  of  the  awful  cost  in  life,  and  the  thought 
makes  him  serious,  but  he  is  ready  for  any  sacrifice. 
He  welcomes  help  from  Allies  and  neutrals,  but 
whether  the  help  be  great  or  small,  he  is  willing  and  re- 
solved to  stand  on  his  own  feet,  and  carry  on  to  the  end. 
It  is  this  spirit  which  makes  Britain  magnificent  to-day. 

When  losses  are  brought  home  to  the  Germans  they 
generally  give  vent  to  their  feelings  by  hurling  maledic- 
tions upon  their  enemies.  The  Briton,  under  similar 
circumstances,  is  usually  remarkably  quiet,  but,  unlike 
the  German,  he  is  individually  more  determined,  in 
consequence  of  the  loss,  to  see  the  thing  through.  Some- 


THE  LITTLE  SHIPS  335 

how  the  German  always  made  me  feel  that  his  war 
determination  had  been  organised  for  him. 

Organisation  is  the  glory  and  the  curse  of  Germany. 
The  Germans  are  by  nature  and  training  easily  influ- 
enced, and  as  a  mass  they  can  be  led  as  readily  in  the 
right  path  as  in  the  wrong.  Common-sense  administra- 
tion and  co-operation  have  made  their  cities  places  of 
beauty,  health,  comfort  and  pleasure.  But  when  you 
stop  for  a  moment  in  your  admiration  of  the  streets, 
buildings,  statues,  bridges,  in  such  a  city  as  Munich 
and  enter  a  crowded  hall  to  sit  among  people  who  listen 
with  attention,  obedience  and  delight  to  a  professor 
venomously  instructing  them  in  their  duty  of  "hating 
with  the  whole  heart  and  the  whole  mind,"  and  convinc- 
ing them  that  "only  through  hate  can  the  greatest 
obstacles  be  overcome,"  you  begin  to  suspect  that  some- 
thing is  wrong. 

It  is  part  of  the  Prussian  nature  to  push  everything 
to  extremes,  a  trait  which  has  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages. It  has  resulted  in  brilliant  achievements  in 
chemical  and  physical  laboratories,  and  in  gout,  dyspep- 
sia and  flabbiness  in  eating  establishments.  A  virtue 
carried  too  far  becomes  a  vice.  In  Germany  patriotism 
becomes  jingoistic  hatred  and  contempt  for  others,  or- 
ganisation becomes  the  utilisation  of  servility,  obedi- 
ence becomes  willingness  to  do  wrong  at  command. 

Americans  and  British  are  inclined  to  ascribe  to  the 
Germans  their  own  qualities.  In  nothing  is  this  more 
obvious  than  in  the  English  idea  that  the  fair  treatment 
of  Germans  in  England  will  beget  fair  treatment  of  the 
English  in  Germany.  The  Prussians,  who  have  many 
Oriental  characteristics — and  some  of  them,  a  good  deal 


336     THE  LAND  OF  DEEPENING  SHADOW 

» 

of  Oriental  appearance — think  orientally  and  attribute 
fair,  or  what  we  call  sportsmanlike,  treatment  to  fright 
and  a  desire  to  curry  favour. 

When  Maubeuge  fell  I  heard  Germans  of  all  classes 
boast  of  how  their  soldiers  struck  the  British  who 
offered  to  shake  hands  after  they  surrendered  to  the 
Germans.  Nearly  two  years  later,  during  the  Battle  of 
the  Somme,  some  Berlin  papers  copied  from  London 
papers  a  report  of  how  British  soldiers  presented  arms 
to  the  group  of  prisoners  who  had  stubbornly  defended 
Ovillers.  I  called  the  attention  of  several  German 
acquaintances  to  this  as  an  evidence  of  Anglo-Saxon 
sporting  spirit,  but  I  got  practically  the  same  response 
in  every  case.  "Yes,  they  are  beginning  at  last  to  see 
what  we  can  do !"  was  the  angry  remark. 

The  Germans  have  become  more  and  more  "Prus- 
sianised" in  recent  years.  State  worship  had  advanced 
so  far  that  the  German  people  entered  the  conflict  in  the 
perverted  belief  that  the  German  Government  had  used 
every  means  to  avert  war.  It  is  a  mistake,  however,  to 
suppose  that  the  German  people  entered  the  war  reluc- 
tantly. They  did  not.  There  was  perfect  unity  in  the 
joyful  thought  of  German  invincibility,  easy  and  com- 
plete victory,  plenty  of  plunder,  and  such  huge  indem- 
nities that  the  growing  burden  of  taxation  would  be 
thrown  off  their  shoulders. 

A  country  where  the  innocent  children  are  scientifi- 
cally inoculated  with  the  virus  of  hate,  where  force,  and 
only  force,  is  held  to  be  the  determinant  internationally 
of  mine  and  thine,  where  the  morals  of  the  farmyard 
are  preached  from  the  professorial  chair  in  order  to 
manufacture  human  cogs  for  the  machine  of  militarism, 


THE  LITTLE  SHIPS  337 

is  an  undesirable  and  a  dangerous  neighbour  and  will 
continue  so  until  it  accepts  other  standards.  A  victori- 
ous Germany  would  not  accept  other  standards. 

That  is  why  I  look  on  the  little  ships  with  so  much 
admiration  this  morning.  They  sail  between  Germany 
and  victory,  for  if  they  could  be  intimidated  Britain 
would  be  starved  out.  Then  the  gospel  that  "only 
through  hate  can  the  greatest  obstacles  be  overcome," 
would  be  the  corner-stone  of  the  most  powerful  Empire 
of  history. 


Liate  Due 

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The  land  of  deepening  shadow, 


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BORROWER'S  NAME 


Curtin,  D.T. 

The  land  of  deepening  shadow, 


